Recap
The Eagles playing in black were looking to expand on a great performance away to Sefton last Sunday took on top of the table and unbeaten Explorers in white in front another good crowd with a few travelling fans to make it a great atmosphere…
The home team got off to a good start as Aaron Wilson hit 3 perimeter shots inside the first 3 minutes to make it 13-6… By the midpoint of the period the Eagles still held a lead of 22-16 with top scorer Alex Horta hitting his mark from down town…. The 7th to the 10th minute saw the home team hit foul trouble sending the visitors to line to often as they made their charity count and actually edged ahead 24-30 before the home team hit 6 without reply making it 30-30 by the end…
The 2nd quarter was home teams down fall as the visitors hit their stride and by the 5th minute it was 39-43… The Explorers were on fire as the home team failed to stifle their offence and by the half it was 48-59… (18-29)
The home team changed things up in the 3rd and went into a zone to help with the inside threat the boys in white posed and definitely worked early doors and by the 3rd minute it was 56-59 as the home team went on a 8-0 run… The visitors steadied the ship as and by the close of the 3rd it was 67-78… (19-19)
The Eagles weren’t done yet though and a very strong 4th period saw them put the visitors under great pressure and on a couple of occasions they closed the gap to 5 and less but the visitors managed the run in a little better and with seconds left it was 89-93… The home team fouled but Lister held his nerve and made his free throws closing the game out at 89-95… (22-17)
Coach Heath said “It was disappointing to put up 3 good quarters and such a miserable 2nd period… The starting 5 contributed so much to this game and we need to find away to get more production off the bench…. We came very close to getting out of jail and sneaking a win, if we hadn’t given away so many free throws and actually converted our chances I am sure it would have been a different result… We will regroup this week and be ready for Tameside coming to the college on Saturday at 2pm…
We have set targets of going unbeaten till the Christmas break and we will try to avenge our home defeats when we play these teams on the road….”
Eagles Scorers- Alex Horta 23, Aaron Wilson 15, Themba Yabantu 11, Ilja Fjodorovs 10 and Ben Hogg 10….
