Cheshire Phoenix bowed out of the BBL Trophy at the Cheshire Oaks Arena on Sunday night but can take heart from proving more than a match for all-conquering Newcastle Eagles.

The Nix, who handed a debut to new American point guard Quincy Taylor, went down 97-87 to the Eagles but, in truth, could have emerged from the game victorious had they been more ruthless in their offence.

Fab Flournoy's Newcastle, crowned BBL Cup champions in Birmingham seven days previous, came into the clash on the back of their first defeat of the season on Friday, where they were beaten at Worcester Wolves, and aiming to keep their hopes of another clean sweep of trophies in British basketball alive.

Newcastle were slow out of the blocks in the opening quarter but the Nix were hampered in their bid to take advantage of the Eagles' uncharacteristically sloppy start when Taylor picked up two quick fouls prompting head coach John Lavery to bench him in place of Sedale Hanson-Young for safety's sake.

But Cheshire couldn't make Newcastle pay and the Eagles pushed ahead but had their lead trimmed to two at the end of the first when Akeem Ellis, who hit a game-high 32 points for the hosts, drained a deep three.

But the visitors kept their noses in front in the second and were handed another boost when Taylor, who had shown glimpses of his quick hands and intelligent play early on, picked up his third foul, keeping him out of action for the rest of the first half.

The Eagles had threatened to pull away but Cheshire managed to rally late in the second to keep in touch at 35-41.

The Nix failed to take their chances offensively in the third and Newcastle, aided by the usually dependable contributions of Joe Chapman, Charles Smith, Drew Lasker and Rahmon Fletcher, managed to keep themselves forging ahead and ran out to an 18-point lead early in the fourth, but Cheshire weren't going down without a fight.

Buoyed by a vocal home crowd and with Taylor now showcasing his talents running the point and Kinu Rochford dominating the glass, the Nix went on an 11-0 run to bring them to within six, but that was as close as they would get as the visitors held their nerve and edged themselves into the quarter-finals, albeit by virtue of a test tougher than they would have hoped for.

“Good teams never lose two in a row,” said Coach Lavery post game.

“We were always in the game and I always had confidence in what we could do.

“We missed a lot of shots in the third and fourth quarter, shots that we would usually be knocking down.

“What was pleasing for me was that we never had our heads down and we kept fighting until the death and until it was physically impossible.

“They are a good team and are a well-drilled unit. But it's done now, it's finished with and we look forward to next weekend.”

And Lavery believes that there is plenty more to come from new addition Taylor and has backed him to become a key member of their arsenal.

He said: “He hasn't even been in a week yet. New guys that come into the league always get into a little bit of foul trouble early on. Him picking up three fouls in the second quarter hurt us.

'“But once we get him settled in and working into what we're about then I think he'll be a good addition to what we have already got.”