Here come the Eagles! A fabulous performance on the road down at Bristol gave them a third successive win in the SLB Championship and made for a superb double-winning weekend. Newcastle’s aggressive zone defence the key to their victory.

That defence forced 18 turnovers from which they garnered 23 points as Head Coach Marc Steutel’s showed a relentless commitment through the first three quarters that made the final ten minutes almost an irrelevance.

The Eagles only allowed Flyers 47 points through those first three periods whilst using that defensive platform to allow their offence to flow free freely as they scored 74 of their own in an emphatic display.

Coach Steutel often talks about consistency and setting the tone at the defensive end to enable his side to express themselves at the other end of the floor. That’s exactly what he got not just in Bristol on Sunday, but it extended on from the superb victory over Cheshire at home on Friday.

Once again Newcastle were short-handed and once again ‘The Magnificent Seven’ stepped up and used that ‘next man up’ mentality. Plus, they have Ray’Sean Taylor. The rookie American guard is in scintillating personal form at the moment and burned Bristol for 32 points in this game.

He though was far from alone. Currently Cole Long is wearing the captain’s armband if there was such a thing in basketball. His efforts in the first half showed him out to be a shrewd choice of leader as he shot the lights out in the first twenty minutes.

He went six of seven from downtown and by half-time he had 22 points personal to help his side set a platform that was never going to be dismantled. Foul trouble in the second half did keep him off the court for prolonged periods but his work was already done and allowed Taylor to take over.

The ‘History Maker’ adding five rebounds and six assists to his game-high points tally. Gus Okafor had 13 points and four rebounds from the bench and Maceo Jack was also in double figure scoring with 11.

Mitch Clarke who had a season-high 17 points on Friday against Cheshire was wonderfully active all around the court showing his worth as a pivotal team player with eight points seven rebounds and four assists whilst Deion Hammond also had eight points.

Manny Kanwei the seventh Eagle on court may only have netted two points but he gave his coach valuable minutes and supported his teammates well. It was simply another great all-round team effort from the Eagles who belied the travel and lack of numbers in flying style.

Even though they lost the final period, Newcastle still did damage early on in that ten-minute stretch when Hammond’s triple actually took their lead to 33 points at 80-47. Perhaps the players could be excused for taking their foot slightly off the gas down the stretch after their early efforts.

Sweeping the first thirty minutes of the game only meant a little pride for the home side who did finish well but by then Newcastle were ensuring they didn’t get into any foul trouble and were protecting and holding what they had.

That was a superb and convincing win, like Friday, over a team well above them in the League standings. Have perhaps the Eagles turned the corner? Difficult to say but on the back of three successive wins and in dominant style things are beginning to look up.