Newcastle Eagles have retained the BBL title after nearest challengers Sheffield Sharks lost a thrilling match at Worthing Thunder on Saturday night.

Sharks, needing to beat Thunder to force an Eagles victory tomorrow over Glasgow Rocks, fought back from a 20 point deficit but finally went down 97-95 to an Evaldas Zabas bucket with four seconds remaining.

After a Sheffield time-out leading scorer Mike Cook saw his three-point shot bounce of the rim and into the hands of Worthing’s Kadiri Richard.

Eagles, who strengthened their squad in the new year by bringing back Great Britain captain Andrew Sullivan, have put together a superb run of results since losing, ironically, at Worthing on January 16.

Their 16 match winning streak in the league included a convincing 99-79 victory over Sheffield in early March which gave Fab Flournoy’s team the head-to-head series over the Yorkshire club.

It looked likely that that result would prove crucial as the campaign entered its final weekend. But Thunder’s intervention means the Eagles can celebrate their fourth league title in five seasons.