Recap

Newcastle Eagles V Leeds LDM (Away)

Eagles overcome Leeds with intensity and a Little help

Coach Willis and her Boys 16’s conference team went on the road this weekend to face Leeds LDM at the Nelson Mandela Centre. It was clear that the young Eagles were in for a tough game upon arrival due to a small court, a cold gym and one of the few teams able to match up physically with the youngsters.

The first quarter saw the Eagles eke out a 4 point lead as they struggled to slow Leeds in transition. However the young Eagles showed their own offensive ability behind 7 points from guard Smith despite being exposed to Leeds tough zone defence. In the following frame coach Willis’ charges continued to score consistently as they poured in 25 points. Throughout the quarter the Eagles used their high-intensity defensive approach to fuel their offensive outburst by causing multiple turnovers and scoring in transition. This was also pushed on by Cadete, as he scored 7 of the final 9 points in the period off the bench, including a buzzer beating three-pointer from the right wing to send the Eagles into the break with a 47-36 scoreline in the visitors’ favour. Following the halftime break the Eagles came out with their original starting five and saw big man Snee get a pair of baskets following offensive rebounds which bracketed guard Little and his own pair of baskets coming from 3-point range which showed the range of offensive firepower the Eagles brought with them on the trip. Over the frame the Eagles eked out a further two points to push the lead out to a 13-point advantage as the quarter finished 66-53 in Newcastle’s favour.

The final frame saw plenty of dramatics, as the Eagles were called for a series of fouls in addition to some sloppy work on the defensive boards led to LDM closing the gap severely to the point where the Eagles lead was reduced to just a single score as the Eagles were left without any big men as both Brown and Snee fouled out. Despite some questionable calls throughout the 4th quarter from officials Newcastle managed to hold on thanks to guards Little, Merrifield and Smith as those three split the thirteen points scored by the visiting Eagles in the final period. Leading to a 79-74 road win for the Boys in Black and White, with guards Little and Smith pacing the scoring with 21 and 16 points respectively. In addition a number of other Eagles contributed outstanding defence in a difficult situation