Newcastle Eagles’ regular season came to a disappointing losing end down in the South West on Sunday afternoon. They went down to a 94-75 defeat against Bristol Flyers but there were mitigating circumstances.

Marc Steutel’s men turned up to play without both Deion Hammond and Ray’Sean Taylor who were inactive on the roster for the game. Steutel taking no chances with the big play-off quarter final against London Lions less than a week away.

Both Taylor and Hammond should be available for that, but Steutel and Newcastle will also be holding their breath that others will also be rested and recovered. During the game Eagles lost Cole Long and Terrell Burden Jr. to game ending injuries. Both will need to be assessed.

With Newcastle’s final league standing unaffected whichever way the game played out it was again most likely a precautionary measure. Steutel probably not wanting to risk either Long not Burden Jr. further in a game that mattered little in the final analysis.

Eagles though did play with heart, desire, and commitment. None more so than Mitch Clarke who led the team in scoring with 23-points in a whole-hearted effort typical of his style. Sauver Kande who had 21-points including five from six from 3-point range also put in a great shift.

Kande who came through the Eagles Academy has now been with the senior squad for seven seasons and this, despite the margin of defeat was possibly his best ever showing and proved his worth at this level.

Gus Okafor who also seemed to be hampered with a damaged shoulder and was hobbling towards the end of the game had 13-points and was Newcastle’s leading rebounder pulling down 7. Manny Kanwei showing tough inside presence to net 10 points and 5 rebounds.

But with such a severally shortened roster it was always going to be tough for Newcastle particularly as they had to adjust to different line-ups rotations and looks both defensively and offensively.

Flyers came out of the blocks hard and fast taking an early 11-4 lead to force Steutel into an early time-out. Adjustments made it failed to slow Bristol down. The Eagles play-caller picking up a technical foul as he disputed a call trying to fire up his players.

It all led to a 32-21 first period and Eagles looking down the barrel. To their credit they did really well in the second period. They never went away and twice within the final 90 seconds got to within two points of their hosts as Bristol wobbled.

Will Yoakum on his way to a tremendous double-double of 25-points 15 rebounds for Flyers netted a triple to end the half putting his side five up 47-42 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Eagles were now further hampered as Long had gone off and although he returned to the bench for the start of the second half it was only in a watching brief as he played no further part. It once again meant the restricted Eagles struggled offensively in the third period.

Going down 20-12 in that ten-minute stretch meant they had a double-digit deficit for the final period. It was always going to be a mountain to climb especially with tired legs. So, it proved as Bristol who never trailed in the game were able to close out a solid win.

Newcastle left to lick their wounds, refresh, and regroup as they now face the run-in to that big play-off challenge against the all-conquering London Lions. The first leg of the quarter-final being in the Vertu Arena on Friday night at 7:30pm.

Tickets for the Play-Offs Quarter-Finals First Leg are available from the box office.