Newcastle Eagles narrowly failed to make it four wins from four games in their last scheduled pre-season game in the Vertu Motors Arena. A three-point loss against fellow SLB side Bristol Flyers was though a competitive entertaining game for the packed pre-season crowd to enjoy.

The overwhelming majority will have been disappointed with the result but not perhaps with the effort, commitment, hustle and periods of quality basketball the 2025/26 Eagles put. ‘Plenty to work with and work on’ may be a good judgement of the afternoon’s proceedings.

A full-strength Bristol side will also take some comforts and positives from arriving in the North East and rolling out again with a W under their belts. They had plenty of good spells throughout the game and did well when Newcastle came back at them during the game.

For Newcastle they will take heart that despite still not being able to unleash veteran forward Darius Defoe and new guard Marco Anthony they still managed to run Flyers close. Add in statistics that don’t always lie and you may get an impression that Coach Marc Steutel will have plenty to ponder.

Eagles only lost by three points despite only shooting 4 of 22 from long-range compared to Bristol’s 11 of 24. Newcastle overall were also outrebounded 51 to 27. They were the main negatives in a game where the lead changed hands on 17 occasions and was tied on 11.

Where Steutel’s men were good was when forcing 24 turnovers and scoring 25 points off them. Then the way they pulled themselves back into the game after falling behind at one stage by 14 points at 31 – 45 in the second quarter.

Eagles started Captain Josh Ward-Hibbert, Guards Caleb Huffman and Ray’Sean Taylor alongside forwards Cole Long and Brett Reed. In a fairly tight opening ten minutes Newcastle did find themselves down early but were only one down at 23 – 24 going into the second.

That was big for Bristol led by Captain Owen McCormack and Will Yoakum in particular. The aways side flew into that big 14-point lead and although Taylor and Reed led a comeback they still went into the locker rooms at the half trailing by 45 – 52.

Steutel’s words though obviously had an impact as his players responded to his call to come storming back and actually taking the third period in decisive style to turn the game around completely and take a four-point advantage at 68 – 64 into the final ten minutes.

Those ten minutes did belong to Bristol by just enough to allow them to draw level and eventually overtake their hosts. Although down the stretch it was nip-n-tuck basketball with both sides having chances Flyers held on with Reed’s late, late triple attempt to create overtime just falling short.

Steutel and new Assistant Coach Roberto Fois will no doubt pour over the footage and look to where improvements are necessary and tweaks need to be tightened. The Eagles having a full week of practice ahead before their first competitive SLB fixture next Sunday on the road at Caledonia.

Tickets for next Friday’s first home game are available from the box office now.