Head Coach Marc Stuetel was as honest as ever after his side slid to a 120-93 loss at home to Manchester Basketball on Friday night in the Vertu Arena. The Eagles had been in the game for all of the first half but a powerful display in the second half by Manchester handed them a big defeat.

Eagles now remain in eighth place in the SLB Championship and are running out of games to improve their position and move up the standings in the race to the end of season play-offs. Six games remain for Steutel and his charges as he reflected after Friday’s loss.

“They are a good basketball team who put 120 points on the board. Our defensive approached lacked at times. So, you have to look at Manchester and say how do you give yourself the best chance of being successful.”

“They play really good pick and roll, they have good isolation, they have good shooters, they play really well in transition and have good offensive rebounding. You have to say how are you going to take this away.”

“If you want to take this away for example pick and roll advantage, we didn’t do that in the first half. Our lack of application with our coverages gave them a lot of 4 v 3 were they play off the short roll and hit a cutter giving them high percentage shots.”

“We then try to change that to switching to try and stop the advantages and then you go to iso. They hit shots in that. We then go to fire coverage when you put two players on the ball to try and slow them down. They hit shots in that.”

“They played exceptionally well. We put 93 on the board and it felt like we didn’t play well offensively which is strange. We missed free-throws, 26 three’s and out of those 20 of them were good shots our type of shots. Manchester played very well.”

One of Steutel’s plans was how to combat what he called Manchester’s ‘three-headed monster.’ Guards Max Jones, Pjay Smith and Jordan Johnson. Clearly that did not work as those three combined for 67 points on the night.

“Max Jones will carry the plaudits for his individual efforts tonight; Jordan Johnson is shifty and poised and is a tough coverage. When they play the three of them together you’ve got to pick your poison, and we didn’t get that right.”

“It doesn’t define us. We’re still trying to do what we can over this last stretch. Credit to Manchester. I’m glad we get to see them again in a couple of weeks. I know our team will be excited to see them again just to show that we can compete for longer periods.”

Steutel will no doubt reflect on the game but just as importantly he and his players need to put it behind them and concentrate on what is still ahead of them as they look to finish the season strong.

“It’s not a cliché it’s obvious but we have to take it one game at a time. We have to look at the next game at Caledonia. They’ve had a couple of wins recently. They still have some talent and are fighting for their lives as well and it’s a difficult place to go and play.”

“We’ll review this one. I know the guys will look at this with a sense of their pride being hurt and they should. That’s what I’m alluding to. We can’t let certain things happen and we have to pick our poison. We didn’t do that tonight and we have to make sure we do that against Caledonia.”

That Caledonia game is the next Eagles outing and will be on Easter Sunday up in Scotland. A game Newcastle really need to win.