Newcastle Eagles produced one of their best road performances of the season to take a crucial Easter Sunday victory at Caledonia. It was a dominant second quarter performance that paved the way for them to complete a comprehensive win in the second half that was key.

Whilst scoring 96-points in a great offensive effort will please Head Coach Marc Steutel what he will no doubt really be delighted at was his side’s solid swarming tough defence. Steutel is a coach that believes good defence will facilitate good offence and this was the perfect example.

The other massive bonus which the Eagles garnered from a great afternoon out in Scotland was the return to the court of long-term injury victim Josh Ward-Hibbert who in a shade over 15 restricted minutes netted 10 points and pulled down 5 rebounds.

His impact was also added to from the bench by big contributions from Gus Okafor who added 8 rebounds to a game-high 26 points and Terrell Burden who had 13 points and 5 assists. It meant that the Eagles bench contributed 49 of Newcastle’s total points.

Two starters were also in double figures. Ray’Sean Taylor having an excellent game with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals and another guard, Mitch Clarke netting 11 points. In truth throughout the game Caledonia could just not cope with the Eagles speed and execution.

The first period was a tight affair with neither side establishing a big lead as the game unfolded. Eagles up early saw the home side come back to take the lead but there was never more than three points in it until Okafor with a triple and Burden with a deuce made it a 4-point gap.

Gladiators though levelled the period with the last four points and looked to take that momentum into the second quarter. But they were met by a tremendous Eagles effort at both ends of the floor that completely killed that momentum and swung the game into Newcastle’s favour.

A superb 19-4 opening to that second period was the decisive burst that gave Newcastle a platform for the rest of the game. Roared on by an excellent travelling contingent of Eagles fans they answered that support with several defensives stops that they turned into telling scores.

It all cumulated in a 30-14 second ten-minutes that gave Steutel and his players a 16-point advantage to take into the half-time locker room at 47-31. Telling but not yet finalised as there was still twenty minutes to play.

As it proved as the second half unfolded. The Gladiators coming out bravely and showing great heart as led by Captain Fraser Malcolm they actually forced Steutel into a time-out as they cut the gap back to single digits at 9-points.

But Steutel’s players responded magnificently to his call and produced the telling run of the game that included triples from Okafor, Ward-Hibbert and Clarke. It was a 13-2 end to the third quarter and a twenty-point lead to take into the final ten minutes.

They then scored the first four points of the final period with a Ward-Hibbert the exclamation point to complete the run. It was too much for Caledonia who in the end just fell apart under such severe Eagles intensity as Newcastle completed the game in fine style.

They took the final quarter by another 9-points at 31-22 to give them an almost 30-point win as they ran riot late on to complete a thoroughly professional and high-quality display. A win they can build on and with Ward-Hibbert back in the line-up it was a very satisfying afternoon.

The Eagles are back home on Friday night in a rematch against Manchester and tickets are still available from the box office.