Recap

The Eagles playing at home for the first time in over a month were looking to keep up the pressure at the top of the division… Tameside sitting mid table were looking to keep an unbeaten run against the Eagles who they beat twice last season….

The Eagles playing in black and in front of a decent crowd got off to a flying start with their opening offence ending in a perimeter shot from top scorer Rafael Camargo-Blas… The visitors in white hit back and by the 3rd minute it was they who led 7-9… The Eagles then hit top gear as they went on 12-2 run making it 19-11… The last two minutes saw the visitors edge it 2-4 closing out the period at 21-15….

The 2nd quarter saw the Eagles on the board with two free throws to Domantas Karpinskas before the visitors had a good spell of scoring making it 23-22 at the midpoint of the 10 minutes…The eagles then hit a downtown 3 before the teams traded scores and by the 7th minute it was 31-30…. The remaining minutes was highlighted by Alex Horta hitting back to back 3s taking the score along to 41-32… The half closed out with the Eagles up by 10 at 44-34… (23-19)

The Eagles started the 3rd period very slowly as the boys in white got the jump on them as they went on a 0-7 run making it 44-41… The Eagles again went downtown and then followed this up with another quick score to steady the ship at 49-41… The teams traded hoops till the 5th minute and with the score at 54-46, the Eagles then hit a quick 10-0 run making it 64-46… The period was closed out at 70-50 with a huge dunk from Theo Riley…. (26-16)

The 4th quarter was a close affair with the score being 13-13 but it was a very scrappy affair as both teams got caught up in an exchange of words and the officials struggled at times with the situations on court… The game was closed out at 83-63….

Eagles head coach Graham Heath said afterwards “We dominated the game when we focussed on playing basketball and not getting involved in the stupidity of the visitor’s trash talking and some of the officiating decisions…. We hit our defensive target and could score when we really needed to… Rafael continued his great scoring form of recent games and Domantas has a very steady game controlling the match late on… We had issues with Ishmael Ingram in foul trouble and Dan Parkin pulling up lame… But we stayed solid and got the job done….”

Eagles Top Scorers- Rafael Camargo-Blas 20, Alex Horta 15 and Domantas Karpinskas 14….