Marc Steutel insists a reset and refocused Newcastle remain bang on course to bring their best basketball to the postseason table.

Back-to-back wins prove the Eagles still mean business heading into the final weekend of regular season hoops.

And a third victory on the bounce against Bristol Flyers this afternoon would reinforce the view that the men in black remain genuine playoff contenders.

“The guys have got to try and rest up and be ready to go again against a really physical and competitive Bristol team,” said Steutel.

Newcastle face the Flyers less than 48 hours after bagging a brilliant 95-87 road win at Surrey 89ers on Saturday.

And Steutel added: “Every game right now is really important. We want to be playing our best basketball at this time of the year and I feel like the last two games have really shown some consistency and some togetherness.

“I’m looking for the same again when the Flyers are in town.

“We want to continue to build upon the level of execution that we’ve had over the last two games.

“But I think our defensive connectivity and our defensive application has been great in the last week.

“We’ve tried to live and breathe the scouts and we’ve tried to live and breathe our schemes and our ideas.

“When we do that defensively, I think our offence flows. The ball’s moving and the guys are making the right reads.

“We need to be locked in defensively and try to be as disruptive as possible against Bristol.”

Whether Steutel sticks with the seven-man rotation that dispatched both Manchester and Surrey remains to be seen with fatigue clearly a factor.

Will Neighbour and Sauveur Kande suited up in each of the Eagles’ last two fixtures but neither played a minute.

And it’s likely both will feature at some point against the Flyers as Newcastle’s playcaller attempts to manage a threadbare roster with the playoffs looming.

All seven players contributed to a colossal performance in Guildford as the Eagles saw off a talented 89ers side.

But it was Christian James who picked up the MVP award after adding 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals to his game high 25 points.

The most fouled player on the night stayed cool from the line to sink 15 of 17 free throw attempts.

And Steutel added: “Defensively — particularly with his rebounding — Christian was exceptional at Surrey.

“He carried the offensive load alongside Trey [Pulliam] and De’Sean [Allen-Eikens] but what I saw was a real team effort.

“Cole Long’s presence in the paint and his rim protection was vital and I thought every one of those players contributed.

“Trey pulled the strings and orchestrated things from start to finish. He ran the show for us and manipulated, in a positive way, what we wanted to achieve.

“I was really proud of what was a tough, tough win. Guildford isn’t an easy place to go and especially on the back of a game two days earlier and the travel involved.

“Factor in the health of the roster right now and the physical pressure that these guys have been under and I was delighted with what was a really disciplined display.”

Now attention turns to Flyers and a Bristol side — like Newcastle — hoping to finish the regular season on a high.

Both teams have been sniffing around the top six all season and there’s been little to separate the sides in previous meetings.

“We’ve found ourselves in this situation a few times in terms of having to play three games inside five days and we’ll just have to dig deep again,” added Steutel.

“It’s really challenging but we’ve got that experience and it’s something we’ve dealt with in the past.”

This afternoon’s game tips off at 4.30pm with remaining tickets available from the box office.