It’s been a truly blessed Easter for Marc Steutel and his Newcastle Eagles players as they defied a brutal schedule to claim their 3^rd win in a row over the long 5 day holiday weekend. And they did it in some style as well shooting down a Flyers side that themselves have played 3 games in 4 days.

Flyers actually won on the road in Manchester on Sunday afternoon before travelling up to Newcastle after the game for an overnight hotel stop. It felt like perhaps they hadn’t recovered and were still resting in the cozy hotel rooms as the Eagles unleashed their talons from the start.

Once again there was no Seneca Knight for Newcastle but his absence was more than compensated by the fact that Bristol went into the game without their big danger inside the paint Demond Robinson. Robinson picking up a late game injury at Manchester that caused him to miss the action in Newcastle.

Eagles meanwhile have learned to play without Knight and showed that in a first quarter of total defensive domination. Bristol meanwhile not being able to adjust their starting five with so little time between the Sunday game and the start of this contest.

Newcastle just keyed in defensively from the off and seemingly put a lid on their own basket as they allowed no easy looks for the forlorn Flyers who turned the ball over time and time again. It gave Newcastle much easier looks at the basket enabling them to virtual kill the game off in the first quarter.

Bristol were restricted to a mere five points in that opening ten minutes. The Eagles weren’t prolific but did not need to be. Eighteen points enough to give them a sizeable double-digit advantage going into the second period.

There was no let-up either for Marc Steutel’s GB Assistant Coach and friend Andreas Kapoulas in that quarter. With Trey Pulliam pulling the strings from the point guard position and Josh Ward-Hibbert not missing a shot in the first half Eagles simply were in a gear way above anything the Flyers could pull.

A 13-point advantage after one became a 20-point advantage by the half as Newcastle completely dominated at both ends of the floor. A sizeable Bank Holiday crowd inside the Vertu Motors Arena lapping up every minute of the high-flying Eagles display.

The second half again gave Bristol no respite. The third went the way of Newcastle again with Mike Okauru now coming to the party and Christian James also continuing the excellent form he showed in the previous two wins as Eagles shared the points and the scoring across the roster.

Another winning ten-minute period saw Steutel’s stars up twenty-eight points as the teams headed into the final quarter which was a quarter that saw Bristol finally find the basket with more regularity. But it was too little too late and indeed they even lost the last period by a single point.

It all added up to a fantastic 29-point victory for an Eagles side that suddenly have caught fire and look well in control of their own destiny as the final week of the regular season looms. They have two final games to come and could yet still finish fourth in the standings.

That would be some achievement given their brutal schedule and often under-strength roster as they battle injury and fatigue. No doubt a few days at home and knowing they have another home game on Friday against Leicester Riders will give them a change to recharge the batteries.