The Rocks’ 92-80 victory was their first success over the Tyneside club since April 2012, ending a run of 21 straight defeats at the hands of the Eagles.

More importantly though for the Rocks’ coach, his side bounced back from the disappointing home defeat they suffered against Surrey Scorchers before the international break.

“We had a meeting after the Surrey game and the players all accepted that we had let the fans down,” he said.

“Everyone committed to playing ultra-hard [against Newcastle] and the result was everyone played well, shared the ball and worked for each other.”

Garbelotto, who took over as the Rocks’ boss during the summer, has enjoyed success against the Eagles before with previous clubs and was confident he could end the streak.

“No offence, but my win-loss record against Newcastle is pretty high and probably higher than any coach in this league,” explained the Rocks’ boss.

“I expect to beat them and don’t have any psychological barrier about playing them.”

He added, “The fact we beat Newcastle was fantastic for the organisation and fantastic for our fans and the people who have gone through those five years.”

The Rocks made it a double-winning home weekend on Sunday as they crushed Leeds Force, 111-57, to move third in the BBL Championship.

“I’ll be honest with you, I thought there might be a bit of a let-down after Friday,” admitted Garbelotto.

“But the guys came at them from the start and showed good energy, going 19-0 up.”

He concluded, “There’s a confidence now, we’re getting into the meat of the season and we need to keep producing results like we did over the weekend.”