Newcastle Eagles, with games in hand over all the clubs in the seven-team Northern Conference, have a tremendous opportunity this week to consolidate third position.

But they face a difficult task at London Towers tomorrow night, and on Friday entertain Milton Keynes then play at Edinburgh Rocks on Sunday evening.

Eagles had a thrilling overtime win against Bullets Birmingham on Saturday night.

It was 97-97 at the end of regulation time and Eagles won 112-107 after overtime.

Eagles rattled off nine points without reply in the extra time period, coming from behind to take a 108-101 lead with a minute left.

Bullets' Virgel Cobbin hit a late three-pointer - his ninth successful three from 13 attempts - to keep things tight to the buzzer but the Eagles held on .

Bullets led by 15 points in the third quarter at 71-56. Brian Ehlers scored a game-high 35 points for the Eagles with 24 for Donnie Johnson and TJ Walker scoring 21.

Title-chasing Teesside Mohawks gained a fifth win from as many meetings at Manchester Magic in the NBL Conference to remain unbeaten this year, winning 65-43.

But Mohawks have been edged out of second place by Worthing, who won twice over the weekend. And now Mohawks face a trip to leaders Plymouth on Saturday - a game they cannot afford to lose.

Coach Tony Hanson said: "I think it was really good for us not to have an easy game so that we can prepare ourselves for Plymouth."

Magic tried hard to ruin Mohawks' assault on the championship with a dogged display that completely threw the Teesside team out of their stride.

It was not until the third quarter that Hanson's troops performed to their full potential with Ralph Bucci again the star with 34 points.

Mohawks were simply unstoppable and soon silenced the home crowd as Magic were dramatically crushed in a seven-minute spell of breathtaking play which produced 25 points