Recap
Newcastle U18s win at home against a tough Manchester Magic side
Pace and understanding how to break Manchester’s press were U18s coach Calvin main concerns going into this game and was an area that he had worked on with his team in the week leading up to this. When the game started as expected Magic tried to press the ball and the eagles punished them with a few quick scores forcing them to take off the press putting Manchester in a half court situation. 1st quarter were evenly matched with neither team going on any point runs. First quarter finished 18-16 in favour of the home team.
The second quarter the eagles traded baskets with magic equally matched with a slight advantage from the home team as Manchester stayed within striking distance. The first half ended 43-37
The first half scoring was dominated by Evboumwan, Linsley and Ridley. Coach Calvin from the eagles needed to make some changes going into the 3rd quarter and make sure the home team makes no mistakes when it comes to defensive rotations as the eagles moved to a zone defence in the 3rd quarter. This quarter ended 60-60. It would all come down to the last one
The fourth saw the Eagles leave to the very end find their offensive intensity and with 1:10 left the score was 78- 82 in favour of the visitors. Coach Calvin called time out after which the Evbouwman scored on a cut to the basket to make it 80-82. Manchester missed a reversed layup to committed a foul on Evbouwman on the rebound, to add to this the Manchester coach was unhappy with the call and challenged the referee in an inappropriate manner resulting in a technical foul . Evbouwman made one of three from the line to take it to 81-82. A quick score of the inbound saw the eagles take a 83-82 lead. Quick foul by Riley resulted in Manchester making 1 of 2 from the line to make the game 83-83. With 21 seconds to go a foul sent Evbouwman back to the line make 1 of 2 free throws take the win 84-83.
U18s Head Coach, Calvin George said: “A little too close for comfort but my guys did well to stay composed and win it the way we talked about in my timeout. We prepped for this team and made some mistakes of our own but for this young team, the exhibited a lot of maturity to take the win”
