Newcastle Eagles ended their regular season schedule down in Bristol on Sunday with a 94-75 loss. On the face of it a disappointing way to end a frustrating season. But this was a game where they were in the contest until half-time and then circumstances conspired against them.

As Head Coach Marc Steutel explained in his post-game interview it had been a game where his players had given him, those that played as much as they could have especially without Ray’Sean Taylor and Deion Hammond.

“I was really proud of the team today. That is ultimately my over arching reflection of how proud I am. We played a really solid basketball game for long periods. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain Bristol’s offensive rebounding and those extra possessions saw the game slip away.”

“To finish the game with five players on the floor and I’m not saying five healthy players as at least two or three of the players that finished the game were really struggling didn’t pass fitness tests but knew they wanted to compete.”

“To start the game with only seven players and to lose Terrell (Burden) and Cole (Long) throughout the game with injury and finish with five. Gus Okafor playing through struggles.”

“In the 15-18 years I’ve been coaching and the 1,500+ games I’ve coached at different levels, I think today I was proud of how they stayed together and how tough they were.”

Steutel was quick to single out some of the players that finished the game and had special words for them with one in particular standing out.

“Mitch Clarke had a will to win. Josh Ward-Hibbert was exceptional defensively and I want a massive shout-out to Sauver Kande on a professional SLB/BBL career high at this level.”

“He’s someone that stays ready who’s always about the court always in the gym who always works so hard. And again, I want to say how proud I am of the team. How committed they were how hard they played and made me really proud.”

Clarke led the Eagles in scoring with 23 points and leading from the front. Kande’s career high was 21 points including five from six from 3-point range in a dazzling shooting performance.

Okafor somehow managed to pull down 7 rebounds as well as contributing 13 points. Whilst Manny Kanwei showed his potential with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

The Eagles were only down by 49-44 at the end of the first half and right in the game but losing Long for the entire second half and then Burden Jr. during that period meant they could not maintain a sustained challenge.

Tired legs and bodies and a Bristol rotation that always had a fresh answer to any questions asked in the end was too much for Newcastle to overcome. But as Steutel has commented there were still plenty of positives to take from the game.

Now it is about rest, recuperation and reset. Newcastle have a very tough challenge of a two-legged play-off quarter-final against London Lions this coming weekend. The first leg being in the Vertu Arena on Friday night with a 7:30pm tip-off.

They are going to need as many fit and fresh bodies as possible for that task against the all-conquering Lions. Taylor and Hammond should be fit, and the rest will be assessed as the week unfurls. In reality though no-one wants to miss the chance of causing a major upset.

Tickets for this Friday night’s first leg are available now on the box office.