Injury-hit Newcastle Eagles failed to bag back to back road wins in Manchester as head coach Herman Mandole celebrated his first homecourt clash with a victory.

Marc Steutel was without Malcolm Delpeche after the forward fell heavily in Bristol less than 48 hours earlier.

And for the second game running there was no Will Neighbour to bolster the Newcastle bench.

But in a fresh blow to the Eagles, leading scorer ‘Money’ Mike Okauru limped out of the action in Manchester with 14 minutes to play.

The prolific American came down hard on his left ankle with the visitors trailing by 10 points.

And Okauru’s afternoon was done with the free-scoring guard forced to sit out the remainder of a game Manchester led from start to finish.

Under Argentine Mandole, the home side snapped a six-game losing streak and always had the edge over their short-handed rivals.

Newcastle trailed 10-0 after the tip and it needed Christian James to come off the bench to score the Eagles’ first points of the period, almost five minutes into the first quarter.

By then Mandole’s men already had a grip on the game, with Steutel’s ragged roster searching in vain for the offensive fluidity that underpinned February’s fabulous unbeaten run.

Newcastle managed just one three-point attempt during a stop-start opening period and had converted just three of 10 from beyond the arc at the half.

But the Eagles’ two-point shooting was little better with the men in black finishing fewer than 50 per cent of their shots inside.

Incredibly the visitors were still in contention after a lacklustre opening 20 minutes — trailing by just four as they headed to the locker room.

And Steutel’s half-time rallying call must have pointed to the fact that it was all to play for, if only his misfiring stars could find their range.

An 11-5 Manchester tear to open the third quarter hardly helped Newcastle’s cause but things were about to get a whole lot worse for the visitors.

Okauru put his body on the line to contest a 50-50 challenge before collapsing onto the court clutching his left ankle.

Following a short stoppage, this season’s outstanding import was helped from the court and his foot was immediately elevated and iced.

And Newcastle fans now nervously await updates on Okauru, Delpeche and Neighbour ahead of a brutal schedule of six games in 14 days — including a two-legged European quarter-final — starting on Friday.

Without their talismanic scorer, the Eagles had it all to do and in James it looked like they had a potential saviour.

But some big buckets came with a flurry of costly fouls and without the gutsy guard on court Newcastle lacked bite.

Manchester lost both Ian Dubose and Elijah Ifejeh down the stretch but fatigue had already kicked in where the Eagles were concerned.

And the hosts could afford to absorb the absence of two key starters in the dying minutes with a nine-point cushion to fall back on.

Two late Trey Pulliam triples were a frustrating reminder of what might have been but it was the loss of Okauru — rather than the nature of a disappointing defeat — that hurt Newcastle most.

And fans will be hoping for some positive news later this week with both Okauru and Delpeche set for scans on Monday.

Tickets for this Friday’s home game are available now from the box office.