Some might say that given his depleted ranks, the brutal schedule and the many miles travelled, Head Coach Marc Steutel might have taken a 3-point defeat away from home in Denmark in the 1^st leg of the ENBL quarter-final tie against reigning Champions Bakken Bears.

But knowing Steutel and his constant drive and determination he’s more likely to be disappointed that his Newcastle Eagles side couldn’t come away from the game with an advantage to take into next Tuesday’s home leg in the Vertu Motors Arena.

After initially going down by five points in the first quarter Steutel’s well called timeout sparked a superb run from his team. They turned the tie around to lead by as many as fifteen points in the second period and when the half-time buzzer went they were up by nine points at 52 to 43.

It had been a tremendous effort from the Eagles led by a huge first half effort from Christian James who had 17 of his team high 19 points inside the first twenty minutes. The Eagles were committed at both ends of the floor and only had two turnovers in the first two quarters.

Unfortunately, the wheels came off slightly in the third period. Bakken coming out of the locker rooms with renewed determination and fierce defensive resolve closed James down second half and began to force Newcastle into turnovers.

The home side’s renewed intensity saw them come storming back in a torrid ten-minute period for Newcastle that saw them lose their lead and face a deficit for the final quarter as the Bears took the third by 21 points to 9 to go back in front at 64 – 61.

The side’s were now going at it hammer and tong with neither team though able to really gain a significant advantage although Bears did go up by six points at one stage in the last ten minutes.

Newcastle though with De’sean Allen-Eikens coming up big down the stretch to finish on 15 points and with double figure supporting efforts from Cole Long, Trey Pulliam and Darius Defoe were always in the contest and kept chipping away with purpose.

They even had a chance to get either level or within one with only five seconds to play but turned the ball over on their final play and Bakken held on to enable them to bring a three-point advantage to Newcastle for next week’s potential blockbuster of a second leg.

The damage and danger for the Bears coming from ex-University of Southern Indiana big man Jacob Polakovich. The 6’ 10” USA Centre was huge inside the paint and a man the Eagles found difficult to stop. He helped himself to a game-high 27 points adding in 11 rebounds for a superb double-double.

Add in the contributions from Danish International Darko Jukic, the older brother of former Eagle Zarko, who ended up with 19 points on the night and USA forward Urald King netting 14 points and it was enough for Bakken to take that slight advantage.

Eagles though will take heart from the fact that they are only three down at the halfway stage as they were once again without Mike Okauru and Malcolm Delpeche and although Will Neighbour was suited up he didn’t see any court-time.

It leaves the tie delicately poised. Can Bakken defend their 3-point lead and knock the Eagles out of the ENBL for a second season running? Or will Newcastle dethrone the reigning Champions and get a shot at the Final Four and glory themselves? All will be revealed in 7 days’ time on Tyneside.

Tickets for Tuesday’s home second leg are available now from the box office.