After the euphoria of Tuesday nights superb win over Bakken Bears in The European North Basketball League that booked a ticket to the Final Four, it was back to regular season league action in Leicester on Friday night for Marc Steutel’s men.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t take that European momentum and form into the Mattioli Arena against a Riders side that shot the lights out on the night. The home side’s win moving them 10 points clear of Newcastle in the League standings and creating a big gap between the 3^rd and 4^th placed sides.

It was also the Eagles 5^th successive loss in the League and they have not won domestically in March as they struggle to keep pace with the teams at the top. There have been some contributing factors. Steutel has repeatedly had to face tough games with depleted line-ups.

Having lost Malcolm Delpeche for the season and been without top scorer Mike Okauru for three of the previous four losses he would have been delighted to see Okauru return on Tuesday and then recover well enough to be in the line-up against Leicester.

However, he still could not put out a settled side as the influential Seneca Knight became the latest injury victim of the campaign and didn’t even travel to the game to be part of the roster. It meant once again a short-handed roster for Steutel to juggle.

In the end it was two decisive runs in the game that were probably one of two main factors that Newcastle slipped to another disappointing defeat despite showing a great deal of character throughout the 40 minutes.

Tip-off was delayed by 45 minutes whilst the two sides awaited the late but welcome arrival of the refereeing crew to enable the game to take place at all. When it did get underway Leicester exploded their long-range bombs on a beleaguered Eagles defence.

From 5 to 4 in front Riders went on an early 11 unanswered points run to give them a solid platform for the rest of the game. Newcastle never once getting a lead in the contest. Okauru with 18-points personal in the first half just about kept them in the game but they were down 56 – 43 at the half.

Okauru though couldn’t keep that form going in the second twenty minutes although De’Sean Allen-Eikens did burst into life after he had been held scoreless in the opening two quarters. His first ten points all scored in the third period actually helped Newcastle to close within 5 points at one stage.

That was as close as the Eagles got although they will perhaps look at missed opportunities that could have gotten them closer. With the score at 66 – 60 to Riders, ex-Newcastle forward Duke Shelton was ejected from the game and Newcastle had a free-throw and possession to follow.

The free-throw was missed by Christian James and then two good looks at triples from Allen-Eikens and Okauru went begging. A turnover gave Leicester an easy bucket and they scored the last nine points of the quarter and suddenly the gap was fifteen going into the final period.

It was too big a lead for Newcastle to comeback from and Leicester saw out the final ten minutes comfortably to record a decisive win. The home side shooting an incredible 17 of 30 three-point baskets for a 59% success rate during the game whilst Eagles could only manage 7 of 26 for 26%.

Those two runs, that 3-point percentage and Eagles foul troubles that contributed to Leicester’s strong ending to the third period being the biggest factors in the game along with Eagles missing Knight’s presence and contribution.