Recap

Cheshire Phoenix 64 v Newcastle Eagles 115

Head Coach – Darius Defore / Assistant Coach – Dominic Taylor
Starting 5 – Luke Tucker, Arran Dower, Tyler Cadete, Alfie Rhodes, Leo Glaholm

This weekend the Eagles travelled to Cheshire for their second meet up of the season with the Cheshire Phoenix.  Captain Billy Crawshaw was unable to play due to illness, so Luke Tucker stepped into the captains’ shoes for this game.

Luke Tucker opened the scoring with a long 3-point shot.  The Eagles defence held the Phoenix at bay for the first 3 minutes of the game, but Cheshire finally found their way to the basket with a 3-point shot of their own.  A foul by Cheshire sent Arran Dower to the free throw line for his first point of the game.  Cheshire quickly answered with a basket of their own.  It was the Eagles turn to send Cheshire to the free throw line where they took full advantage.  Leo Glaholm was next to get his name on the score sheet for 2 points, quickly followed by an And 1 basket for Arran Dower.  Another And 1 basket from Arran Dower saw him back on the free throw line once again and Cheshire had strayed into foul trouble, so they called a quick time out.  Both teams returned to the floor and Alfie Rhodes added his name to the score sheet, however Cheshire matched this with 2 points for their tally.  Alfie Rhodes quickly added a 3-point to the score sheet.  Cheshire were once again on the free throw line and added 1 point to their tally.  Ashani Branker was next to get his name on the score sheet adding 2 points to the Eagles score line.  Yet another foul by Cheshire sent Alfie Rhodes to the free throw line for 1 point, Arran Dower quickly followed Alfie to the free throw line for 1 more point.  The quarter ended 21 – 25 in favour of the Eagles

Quarter 2 scoring was opened by Cheshire, but Leo Glaholm quickly got the ball back to the Eagles basket for an And 1 basket.  Harry Merrifield added his name to the score sheet and the strong Eagles defence at the Cheshire end sent the ball back down court to a waiting Luke Tucker for another 2 points.  Arran Dower added 2 more points and Cheshire could find no answer losing possession of the ball to Luke Tucker who went from end to end to add another 2 to his tally.  Cheshire were forced to call a timeout to end the Eagles run.  The Eagles stood strong again under Cheshire’s basket to deny them sending the ball back to the Eagles end where Harry Merrifield took full advantage for 2 points.  Cheshire finally found the basket with a 3-point shot.  Harry Merrifield wove his way through 3 Cheshire players to send an assist to Luke Tucker for 2 more Eagles points.  Lewis Pinnock decided to join the points party and added a basket of his own, quickly followed by another from Luke Tucker.  A long pass down the court led to a basket for Leo Glaholm.  Cheshire’s fouls raised their head again and Arran Dower took full advantage from the free throw line.  The duo of Luke Tucker and Harry Merrifield went to work again with the long pass down court from Harry to the waiting Luke for 2 more Eagles points. A steal by Luke Tucker from the inbounded Cheshire ball gave him yet another basket for his tally and Cheshire struggled to find their way back through the Eagles defence.  Their next points came from the free throw line where they took full advantage.  Luke Tucker was having none of that and added a 3-point shot to his game total.  The ball was sent back down to Cheshire’s end where a big block from Hayden Watson sent the ball back to the Eagles end for another 2 points from Luke Tucker.  Again, Cheshire found themselves on the free throw line but could only gain 1 point.  Hayden Watson added his name to the score sheet for 2 points, but Cheshire finally found their way through the Eagles line to add a basket of their own, but it was too little too late to close the gap and the quarter ended 41 – 64 to the Eagles.

The second half saw another flurry of baskets from the Eagles, the first and second coming from Arran Dower from the free throw line.  Cheshire did try to mount a comeback with a 3-point shot but Alfie Rhodes ended their short-lived run with a 3-point shot of his own, not to be outdone Harry Merrifield added another 3 -point shot.  The 3-point shot party continued with two Luke Tucker corner 3’s.  An Eagles foul sent Cheshire to the free throw line, but they could not take advantage and as the ball travelled back to the Eagles end a foul by Cheshire saw Luke step up to the free throw line to take full advantage.  Joseph Flint added his name to the scoresheet with 2 quick baskets.  Again, Cheshire tried to mount a comeback but this time it was Lewis Pinnock who put a stop to it.  A long pass down court from Luke Tucker gave Leo Glaholm another basket for his tally and at his point the Eagles were really flying.  Cheshire could not find their way through the Eagles tough defence and an Eagles basket followed from Joseph Flint.  The quarter ended 54 – 93 to the Eagles

The final quarter with both sets of coaches getting a technical warning due to their enthusiasm!  Cheshire got the scoring underway with a 2-point basket.  Hayden Watson was the first of the Eagles to get his name on the score sheet this quarter.  A series of travel calls for both teams sent the basketball from team to team with neither being able to find the basket for a while.  Ashani Branker finally found a way through to the Eagles basket to get the scoring back underway.  Tyler Cadete took advantage of the assist from Ashani Branker to add his name to the scoresheet followed by another Eagles basket from Joseph Flint, another from Tyler Cadete inched the Eagles lead into Krispy Crème territory.  Joseph Flint was quick to add another to his tally and whilst Cheshire answered this with a basket of their own the gap was now too wide.  Hayden Watson added 2 more baskets for the Eagles.  Cheshire were sent to the free throw line for their final points of the game, the Eagles however were not done.  Baskets followed from Ewan Aditjandra, Joseph Flint, and the final basket of the game, securing the Krispy Kremes for the team, came from Hayden Watson.  The games ended 64 – 115 in favour of the Eagles

The Eagles travel to York next week to face the York Eagles for the second time this season