Recap
Newcastle U18s lose away to Manchester Magic
The game started with the home team asserting their dominance in transition and going on a 10-0 run as the eagles struggled to find their feet in the opening minutes. The home team capitalised on this forcing the Eagles coach to call time out and adjust their defensive strategy. It was only in the 4th minute, the eagles scored on a foul on point guard Rizza that sent him to the line for the first points . Eagles made a few to bring the game back but because of the lack transition defence the Eagles finished the first quarter 28-15.
The second quarter saw more of the same as the Eagles struggled to find their offensive rhythm and the home team punished them in transition to end the first half. 59- 26
The first half scoring was dominated by Evbuomwan, Ridley and Rizza for the Eagles.In third quarter the home team made a few mistakes of their own to allow the eagles to score as it was an uphill struggle. The 3rd quarter ended 81-40.
The fourth saw the Eagles try to start the come back on several occasions, but with the eagles missing a lot of their key players due to illness and injury the game had limited option for the Eagles on the bench. Game ended with a final score of 100-66
U18s Head Coach, Calvin George said: “we definitely struggled to score in the 1sh and we were missing 4 players coming into this game, but our lack of defensive intensity and inability to shake off the travel lull that comes with away games led what happened . A very haphazard 1st quarter that set the tone for the game. With our record now moving to 1-7 . We need to focus on the second half of the season.”
