Recap
The Eagles playing in black were looking to keep their unbeaten league run going with a home game against Blackpool playing in orange…
The home team’s starting 5 jumped out to an impressive 22 to 5 lead in the early and middle part of the 1st quarter… However the players coming off the bench managed to let the away team into the game with some lazy defending and in the 9th minute they had gone on a 0-11 run making it 22-17… In the dying seconds of the quarter the Eagles hit a big perimeter shot by Tom Usher to make 25-17 at the break….
The Eagles came out and traded baskets with the boys in orange and by the midpoint it was 36-25… The visitors again then had a strong run of 0-10 as the home team again stuttered on offence and played some poor defence allowing Blackpool to get the score to 36-35… The latter part of the 2nd period saw the teams trade hoops and the visitors edged ahead with a half court buzzer shot dropping off the back board making it 42-44 at the half time… (17-27)
After some stern talking in the changing room the Eagles were hoping to re-assert themselves but the visitors had other ideas as they pushed on and by the 5th minute it was 46-57 as the home team continued to struggle on the perimeter defence… The Eagles did collect themselves and went on a 6-0 run making it 52-57… The last 2 minutes saw the away team hit again 3 perimeter daggers including another buzzer beater off an Eagles turn over closing the quarter out at 58-70… (16-26)
The Eagles competed much better in the 4th quarter but couldn’t really make inroads into the well established lead the visitors had and with an even share of the spoils at 22-24 the tangerines headed back to the bright lights of Blackpool with a 80-94 win….
Coach Heath said “We started so well but some of our players were not at the races tonight and we lacked intensity coming off the bench… Our perimeter defence both in the man to man and 3-2 zone was shocking… There were some very harsh words exchanged in the changing room after the game and I am hoping the players have done some soul searching over the weekend… We have a road game this coming Sunday in Sefton who haven’t picked up a win yet so I’m hoping we can turn ourselves around…”
Eagles Top Scorers- Alex Horta 17, Ben Hogg 17 and Tom Usher 11….
