Recap
This weekend saw the Newcastle Eagles Under 16s in action against the current league leaders Manchester Magic. After a tough road loss last weekend, the Eagles were looking for a response against a good Magic side, who have only lost once all year.
The first quarter saw the visitors set the tone for the game. The Magic started with an 8-0 run to immediately put the hosts on the back foot. A score for Fetherston would get the home side ticking before another six-point run for the Magic extended their lead out to 12. The Eagles were doing a good job of breaking the Magic’s full court press but were struggling to manufacture percentage shots in the half court. Back to back scores for Sukys would reduce the Eagles deficit slightly before another burst of scoring for the Magic saw the quarter finish 12-29 in favour of the boys from Manchester.
The second quarter saw the Eagles produce a much better display on defence, holding the Magic to 17 points across the 10 minutes. Better off ball rotations would limit the visitors scoring inside the paint, which had caused so much of the damage earlier in the game. On offence the home side were still struggling to cope with the intensity and aggression of the Magic’s defence and only managed to score nine points in the quarter. The score at halftime was 21-46 to the Magic.
After the interval, the visitors would mount another decisive run. The hosts would be kept scoreless while the Magic went on a 17-point blitz to extend their lead out to 42. A score for Mamuini would end the rot before Jones would light a spark for the home side, scoring three triples in a row to bring the lead down to 30. The quarter would end with the Magic picking up another couple of scores to see their lead back to 40, 38-78.
The final quarter would see much of the same, as the Eagles fought hard to reduce the deficit and take a quarter off the visitors. Despite the hosts best efforts, the game would finish 46-98 in favour of the Magic.
After the game, under 16s Head Coach Sam Roxborough said “it was a really tough game today. We have to give credit to Manchester who are a very good side but we should be a little disappointed with how we defended at times. All we can do now is regroup for next weekend’s game away to Trafford, who only sit one position higher than us in the league.”
As mentioned above, the U16s are in action next Sunday (18th Feb) away to Trafford Magic at the Amaechi Centre.
Scorers: Mamuini 11, Jones 9, Sukys 6, Bond 6, Proctor 5, Kande 4, Fetherston 4 and Hunt 1
