Beaten but unbowed Newcastle Eagles already have one eye on a bounceback win against Euro rivals Pleven after bogey side Cheshire inflicted a heavy loss on the men in black.

The fast-tiring hosts suffered a fourth quarter collapse in the face of a fired up Phoenix.

And while nobody within the Newcastle camp will use fatigue as an excuse it was clear that a schedule of four games in eight days — including three on the road — finally caught up with Marc Steutel’s men.

The subdued Eagles lacked this season’s trademark intensity, efficiency and energy in what was always going to be a tough Trophy test.

But Steutel’s battling roster was still in contention when a Jordan Spencer triple reduced Cheshire’s lead to just three points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

At that point it was game on and home fans must have been hoping adrenaline would carry their team over the line following a gruelling trip back from Slovakia.

But nobody — not least Newcastle’s players — had accounted for a fresh burst of offensive firepower from the Eagles’ North group rivals.

Phoenix outscored Steutel’s men 30-15 down the stretch on what proved to be a rare bad day at the office for a talented group.

And on a night when head coach Ben Thomas stayed home to deal with a family matter, assistants Jack Hudson, James Brice and Tom Fletcher claimed an impressive scalp at the Vertu Motors Arena.

The stats didn’t lie as Newcastle’s new-found defensive mettle deserted them and the hosts struggled to convert their offensive plays.

Had it not been for Spencer’s back-to-back threes either side of the third quarter break, the Eagles would have shot a paltry one from 19 from three-point range.

Shooting just 38 per cent from the field — compared to Phoenix’s 47 per cent — put the hosts on the back foot from the start.

And after leading the battle of the boards for much of the night, Newcastle were finally outrebounded 47-38.

Early foul trouble meant neither Malcolm Delpeche nor Darius Defoe was able to put in a solid shift before the half.

But the Eagles somehow found a way to stay in touch — drawing on this season’s mental focus and pride in the jersey to trail by just four points after 20 minutes.

A Delpeche dunk midway through the third quarter could have been the catalyst for a game changing run.

Instead Cheshire regrouped and redoubled their efforts to stretch out to an 11-point lead before Spencer and Jailin Llewellyn clawed things back.

The latter enjoyed his best night yet for Newcastle as the former Princeton playmaker came off the bench to score 11 points and snap up three boards in 15 encouraging minutes.

But scores were hard to come by for the Eagles’ frustrated stars with Mike Okauru leading the way on 13 — albeit shooting just six from 16 from the field.

Ex-Newcastle guard Larry Austin Jr played 15 minutes for the visitors after rejoining his former club earlier in the week.

Cheshire had six players in double figures come the final buzzer with TJ Atwood and Skyler White adding 11 rebounds apiece.