Newcastle Eagles picked up their first Super League Basketball (SLB) Championship win of the 2026/27 season with an excellent opening home game performance against a much-vaunted Bristol Flyers side on Friday night.

It was an exciting front-foot display that had the packed Vertu Arena crowd on their feet.

The fans responded with their loud and proud support in response to what they enjoyed being put before them from Head Coach Marc Steutel. It created an electric atmosphere throughout the pulsating 40 minutes of basketball that signalled the return of the SLB for another season.

Everywhere you looked on the Eagles roster there were positives. Not least of which was the spread of minutes from Steutel’s main roster contributors. Eight players played upwards of twenty minutes, but no-one was called upon to play more than thirty. A factor that will please Steutel.

On the night new guard Tavis Smith top scored for the Eagles with 22 points including a perfect 9 from 9 from the charity stripe and Mitch Clarke from the bench had 19. Cole Long captain on the night in place of the injured Josh Ward-Hibbert contributing 13 points.

Eagles had two other players in double figures both newcomers to Tyneside and the Vertu Arena. Forward/guard Cam Christon who actually played for Bristol last season had 11 points as did point guard Blondeau Tchoukuiegno.

The Canadian perhaps stealing the MVP award for the game adding a team-high 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals and zero turnovers to record the highest player efficiency rating on the night of 25 and a Plus/Minus factor of plus 37 points when he was on court.

Flyers by comparison only had Michael Diggins with double figures. The power forward weighing in with 15 points in reply for Bristol. Those figures for the visitors outlining the defensive power and intensity that Newcastle showed throughout the entire game.

Diggins actually put the Flyers in front with the first basket of the game a triple to give his side a 3-point start. Tchoukuiegno replied with a deuce and Long hit a triple of his own to give Eagles their first lead of the game but Zach Anderson tripled again to put Bristol up by a point.

Those two occasions Bristol led early was as good as it got for the away side as slowly the men in black and white began to turn the screw. Lockdown defence being the key and a statement of the way Steutel wants his side to play this season.

Up 13 – 11 the Eagles reeled off ten unanswered points to open up a gap that was never going to be closed by a shell-shocked Flyers side as the Eagles flying start left the Bristol camp shattered and battered. Clarke scoring the last six points for his side who took the period by 29 – 16.

An impressive effort at both ends and the defensive masterclass continued into the second quarter as Newcastle restricted their under-pressure opponents to a mere 15 points in the ten-minute run to half time whilst netting another 26 of their own. It meant a 55 to 31 lead at the half.

The crowd were on their feet as they saluted the Newcastle players’ efforts as the team’s retired to their respective locker rooms to talk things over. Bristol with far more questions to answer and solve than the rampant home side.

The final twenty minutes was much tighter. Eagles at times got a little sloppy on offence and tried to force things a little too often resulting in turnovers that meant they left a lot of points on the floor. They still won the third period 22 to 18 increasing their lead to 28 points after three quarters.

And they kept the pressure going into the final ten-minute stretch. The gap peaking at 87 to 51 with Long draining yet another 3-point bucket to make it a 36-point advantage. The contest had been over for some time in reality but that final Long dagger confirmed the destiny.

Steutel even had the luxury of Eagles Academy players getting the opportunity to step out on the floor for the first time with Joseph Osarenkohe and Mo Sanyang getting minutes alongside BCB step-up player Jalen Shirley.

Bristol took a late opportunity to pinch the final period 19 to 17 but that was way too little to make any difference to the final outcome.

It is of course very early days in the season, but this was a very encouraging start for Steutel and his team. Their loss on Sunday to London Lions down in the capital by 84 – 76 put to bed and moved on from in great bounce back style.

That Lions defeat last Sunday hurt but this response was exactly what Steutel wanted to see from his team and certainly they displayed their abilities against a Bristol side that had no answers whatsoever to whatever Newcastle threw at them at both ends of the floor.