Recap
Newcastle Eagles vs. Manchester Magic
Young Eagles stifled by mighty Magic Legendary Eagles player Darius Defoe turned coach on Sunday for his young u14s premier side as they hosted their first home game of the season against perennial junior title contenders Manchester Magic. In what was thought to be a stern test of their credentials the young Eagles struggled from the start against the athletic side put out by the visitors.
The game opened with both teams trading baskets as Olalekan scored the Eagles boys first home basket of their u14s season. However, this fleeting positivity was soon erased as the Magic leapt out to a 32-9 advantage by the end of the first quarter. Taking advantage of Eagles turnovers early and often as Hanson poured in a dozen for the Magic in the first period on his way to a game-high 26 points. The Eagles came back out with a renewed focus in the second quarter and stayed close with the visitors throughout as the quarter finished 13 to 18 in the visitor’s favour. A big part of the difference in this quarter was the stout defence provided by Eagles wing Arnold-Wright as he played a physical brand of basketball which led to Hanson only scoring two points in the frame, though that didn’t stop Akhidime from the Magic dropping in 10 of his 18 overall points in this quarter.
The third quarter unfortunately turned back in the direction of the Magic as they went on to win the frame by an even 20 point margin 2 – 22 with young guard Macalalad chipping in the only basket of the quarter. On the other side Hanson scored 8 more points off of a myriad of finishes around the basket using both hands and a series of spins and eurostep finishes to push the Magic lead out to 24-72 through three quarters.
The final frame saw Newcastle again tighten up their defence as they held the Magic to just 16 points while young Eagles guard Reay worked hard to get to the line and make a strong finish at the rim on his way to an Eagles team-leading 6 points in the contest. Although the Eagles did tighten up defensively they continued as they had began by losing the final quarter 13-16 ending up with a final score of 36-88 to the visiting Magic.
Manchester Magic
C. Hanson – 26 pts
D. Akhidime – 18 pts
O. Babaola – 10 pts
Newcastle Eagles
D. Reay – 6pts
S. Whyte – 6pts
B. Petersen – 6pt
