Newcastle Eagles will be looking to bounce back to winning ways on Sunday in Sheffield after suffering a SLB Championship loss at home on Friday night against Manchester Basketball by 81-76. Their first home loss in the Vertu Arena this season.

The Eagles went toe-to-to with Manchester throughout a pulsating 40 minutes but down the stretch could not produce the baskets needed to turn the game around in their favour.

In the end that and decisive period towards the end of the second period and beginning of the third were the times that helped Manchester take a victory away from home that many had not expected particularly after the visitor’s changed their Coach barely 48 hours before the game.

Head Coach Marc Steutel was as always honest in his assessment of the game and his team’s performance.

“We’ve had two solid games at home where we’ve been dominant, but I told the guys we’d be facing a different test today. I didn’t like that first twenty minutes. It looked like a team that hadn’t played for two weeks and a team that had played three games in that period.”

“Despite preparing for that as well as we good we didn’t establish our defence and in turn because we didn’t, they stifled us on the offensive end. That was frustrating as they didn’t do anything that we hadn’t prepared for or didn’t expect.”

“In that first twenty minutes they found some momentum and rhythm. Towards the end of the third quarter, we did a good job in playing our way and then I thought we had ample opportunity down the stretch.”

“We got a lot of solid looks that for whatever reason we couldn’t finish like we would normally do. It was a game of fine margins. Ultimately the first twenty minutes wasn’t Eagles basketball and the second twenty had more traits of us.”

The Eagles won the first quarter 22 – 21 and twice led by four points in the second. But Manchester turned that around with ten unanswered points that meant they took a 44 – 38 lead into the locker rooms at the half.

The visitors then continued that form with an 11 – 3 opening to the third that had them up by 14-points at 55 – 41 before Newcastle mounted a comeback. Throughout the second half of the third period and the majority of the final quarter they chipped away at Manchester’s lead.

With 2:27 left in the game the Eagles were only down by a point at 75 – 76 but only scored once more with Manchester taking advantage of late free throws to seal their win. Now Eagles have to move on quickly to face the Sharks.

“I love this team. They work the right way every day. Friday was one of the first times we’ve been stifled. The break hasn’t done us any favours but that’s a part of it not an excuse. The guys play with heart they play together,” said Steutel who went on to conclude his thoughts.

“I thought at times our offensive execution and defensive discipline wasn’t great, we’ve got to learn from it. We haven’t got time to feel sorry for ourselves we’ve got to look forward to Sheffield and see what we can do on Sunday.”

Cam Christon and Blondeau Tchoukiegno both netted 19 points for Newcastle on Friday and Tavis Smith had 16. Steutel knows he will need that and significant support from his other players to get the job done in a game that tips-off at 4pm.

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