Charles Smith goes for 39 as Newcastle takes BBL Cup; Nathan Schall wins dunk contest

BallinEurope’s man in the UK, Sam Chadwick, reports on last week’s British Basketball League Cup along with the concomitant traditional festivities. Read on like Newcastle rolled on… This past weekend saw one of the many highlights on the BBL Calendar, when the BBL Cup Final took place at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. That game featured two of the league’s top teams when the first-place Newcastle Eagles (11-1) and the no. 5 Plymouth Raiders (6-2) went head to head. The game started with Charles Smith dominating the game, going off for 21 points in the first quarter alone and on track to set a new BBL Cup points record (more on this later). Smith had 13 points within the first seven minutes and showed no signs of letting up. Charles and his 21 points outscored the Raiders 21-20 and the Eagles took a 15-point lead. The second quarter saw the game even out with the Eagles outscoring the Raiders 28-26 and going into the half-time with a dominating 63-46 le...