Bridge Relieved to Secure Championship Title
As the Newcastle Eagles celebrate their second league title
in three years, captain Andrew Bridge is delighted with his
side's league campaign so far,
"It's been a long season, with a couple of bad patches
where we lost both the Cup Final and Trophy Final." Said
the 28-year-old Englishman who is averaging 10.9 points per
game this season.
"But consistency showed in the end, and we deserved
to win it because we showed that consistency throughout the
season. We beat the teams we were supposed to be beat, and
although we lost against Worcester, that kind of thing will
happen during the course of the season. Losing at Scottish
Rocks is understandable as it's a tough place to play, and
although we lost twice to Heat, we took care of them in the
end."
Eagles came back from 20 points down to win 108- 101 in overtime
at Guildford on Sunday to seal the title, and Bridge said
that it was a contrasting game,
"They started really well and shot about 75 percent
in the first half. I think they only had four rebounds at
half- time because they weren't missing anything.
"In the second half we turned it over too much and they
ran in some lay-ups. It's hard to explain what changed, but
we chipped away at the lead, and once we got close we managed
to hit a couple of open threes.
"They played some good defence and they took some tough
shots before we were able to finish the game off with an 8-0
run."
Bridge admitted that it was a different feeling to when Eagles
won the title in 2006,
"We were chasing last time, whereas this year we've
been out in front throughout. It was almost a sense of relief
this time, and it got to the stage where other teams were
losing games, and we were waiting to win it."
With the BBL Championship Playoffs to look forward to, Bridge
knows coach Fab Flournoy won't allow his team to take things
easy,
"We'll still be going hard in the remaining games, and
we'll be back in the weights room tomorrow. We've worked hard
with the strength and conditioning coach at the EIS in Newcastle
this season, and it's made a big difference."
Newcastle travel to the Marshall MK Lions, the team that
beat them in January's BBL Cup Final, on Friday before wrapping
up their league season with a home game against the Sheffield
Sharks on April 20th.
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