Recap
The Eagles were looking to get into the top 4 with a home win over the Vikings… The game had been postponed earlier in the month due to the weather….
The Eagles took to the court in what should have been a double header at home… They had earlier in the day picked up a 20-0 win over the Sefton Stars who forfeited the game due to lack of available players…. The Eagles were missing Dan Parkin due to a university interview in Manchester….The home team in black allowed the visiting Vikings in blue to get on the score board first and by the 6th minute they held a slim 8-9 lead… The Eagles then kicked into gear and by the end of the period they had a healthy 24-13 lead with scores coming from across the team….
The second quarter was a slightly tighter affair with both teams going on mini runs across the 10 minutes but it was the Eagles who finished the half stronger with a 9-1 run including a perimeter bomb from Tom Usher to go into the half time at 46-30 up…(22-17)
The second half so the visiting team in blue come out strong and with the Eagles lacking the same the urgency they had shown in the first 20 minutes the Vikings closed the gap to 49-41 with a run of 0-9 forcing Coach Heath to take a time out… Coming out of the time out the Eagles got back into some rhythm went on a mini 6-0 run making it 55-41… The Vikings then hit back again with their own 0-6 run… The latter 2 minutes of the 3rd saw both teams go on runs again first it was the Eagles 6-0 run including another 3 pointer for Usher before the Vikings went 2-9 to close out the period at 63-56…. (17-26)
The 4th quarter was set up for a blast and so it proved as both teams traded scores but it was the Eagles who held their nerve as they didn’t allow the Vikings to get any closer than the 7 they had been at the previous break… The Eagles scored consistently when needed and the final score was 89-80…. (24-24)
The Eagles U23 Head Coach Graham Heath said “We played some solid basketball for three periods with all players getting on the score sheet and four of them in double figures… We did a great job off the boards and put together some good scoring runs… The visitors had a much improved team from when we played them in York, a game we feel we should have won…. We will look to finish off the season on a 6-0 run with an away win in Myerscough tomorrow lunch time….”
Eagles Top Scorers- Themba Yabantu 17, Tom Usher 16, Alex Horta 13 and Aaron Wilson 10….
Eagles U23s will play Myerscough College away on the 25th March 2018 tip off at 12 noon…..
