Recap

Newcastle U14s unable to close out the win on the road against the Riders   

The game started with the home attempting to score from the paint while the visitors struggled to even find the basket resulting in the home team going on a  20-2 run The visiting team however had other ideas, after quickly realising certain shortfalls of individual players, the visitors pressured the Home team off the inbound as the guards forced poor quality shots and forcing turnovers in the front court. Onneyekwe  and Weech pressured the ball while Corkin took care of the interior scoring. 1st quarter ended in favour of the home team 22-8.

The second quarter saw a turn in the tide in favour of the home team as the Riders  found their offensive rhythm and punished the visitors with an impressive interior scoring display and defence. The Eagles scored in streaks but didn’t really find a rhythm in the 2nd quarter.  The first half ended 44-26.

The first half Onneyekwe defensive intensity was the turning point in momentum from the visiting team to show. In third quarter the home team made a few mistakes of their own to allowing Eagles to score. The 3rd quarter ended 70-37.

The fourth saw the Eagles tap into the offensive power scoring 38 points in that quarter alone but it was a liitle late in the game for that as the riders held on to get the win took the final buzzer 82-90.

U14s Head Coach, Calvin George said: “It’s tough on the road, but especially against the Riders who have that physical advantage. We are strong at the guard spot and with two our bigger guys injured, we went  into this game short handed. I think it’s an important step in where we want to be with this young team.”