An explosive end to a tight contest from the home team from Thessaloniki sealed a bonfire night disappointment for the Newcastle Eagles after they sparkled early on and threatened to come away from Greece with a big win.

In the end the fireworks produced by Iraklis were too hot for The Eagles to handle as they slipped to a seventh successive defeat in all competitions including a second consecutive defeat in the European North Basketball League.

It gives Marc Steutel and his team a mountain to climb for the rest of the European campaign if they are to qualify for the play-off stages. Worryingly enough their next game in the ENBL will be the same team they went down to last night as the Iraklis come to Newcastle on Wednesday 3^rd December.

Before then Newcastle have three Super League Basketball Championship games to play to try and get back to winning ways and they try to regroup and reset to get their season back on the rails.

Once again in a familiar looking pattern Newcastle were in this game for long periods and really tested a home side playing in front of their own fanatical noisy fans. Indeed going into the final quarter Steutel’s charges were only six points down and had everything to play for.

Deion Hammond and Maceo Jack were impressive in the second quarter as they led the charge for our Eagles as they looked to cut the deficit to the home side before the half time interval.

Hammond did impress with his 3-point shooting as he managed to tally up 4-9 attempts in a hostile atmosphere as the Iraklis supporters continued to create a wild noise.

That had come about after hard work and real resilience in the first half where they had started well, resisted an Iraklis comeback and then steadied themselves to really fight back before half-time. The difference in the second twenty minutes was the Greek defence.

The Eagles who had scored 42 points in the first twenty minutes to be down by only a point at the half were restricted to only 29 points in the second twenty minutes by a mean home defence who finally managed to lock down Newcastle whilst still finding a way to the Eagles basket at the other end.

Maceo Jack had gotten the visitors off to a good start early on in the first period and he continued to be the main inspiration for a Newcastle side throughout the forty minutes. Eagles actually led by five points at one stage.

But Iraklis came back well led by Justin Wright-Foreman who was exceptional all night and had established a 5-point advantage after ten minutes. They pushed that lead to nine at one stage in the second but Deion Hammond joined the party and the Eagles hit back with ten unanswered points.

It took them back into the lead and the game’s scoring went back and forth to the half-time buzzer with the home side just in front by a single point. The third quarter was a war of attrition with both side’s playing good defence. The Greek side though just that bit stronger and more miserly.

It meant Newcastle had to come from behind in the final period. The Eagles did actually get back within three points on a Manny Kanwei bucket but with 3:43 to play the final 12 to 2 run over two minutes from Iraklis killed off any hopes Newcastle had of an away win on the night.

Jack led from the front and his main support came from Ray’Sean Taylor who drove hard in the second half in try and ignite his side but there was little in the way of additional help with Hammond getting shut down after a promising first twenty minutes.

For Iraklis Captain and Greek International Dimitrois Moraitis had a great game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 steals with USA Power Forward adding 17 points. But it was Wright-Foreman with 32 points which included 6 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc that did the damage.

So, another night of reflection for Steutel and his players to contemplate and learn from. They are not yet firing on all cylinders this season and need to find a formula as quickly as possible to turn things around and get things back on track.