The short handed Newcastle Eagles just did not have enough down the stretch to take a second Championship win of the season down in London on Sunday evening. A lot has been made of Lions lack of strength compared to recent campaigns but they do look to have a very competitive side.

Certainly, their depth was something that Head Coach Marc Steutel must have envied as he had to face a 12-man roster with only eight of his own. Long term injury victims Darius Defoe and Will Neighbour being joined on the sidelines by ex-London stalwart Josh Ward-Hibbert.

Plus, London had Aaryn Rai. Rai who was a stand-out player in British basketball last season for Cheshire Phoenix is this year the leader of the Lions pride and he certainly came to play in this game. 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists earning him MVP honours as he led his side to victory.

But what Coach Steutel will take from this game was how close his side got despite being so severely depleted with injuries. After a tight first quarter that the Eagles only lost by four points at 20 to 16 the writing looked on the wall in the second as Newcastle struggled to contain the rampant Lions.

So much so that the home side had established a massive 19-point advantage at 44 – 25 with only a few ticks over two minutes left in the second quarter/first half. However, the togetherness and toughness this Steutel recruited side has shown all season brought them flying back.

An excellent 8 – 2 run to close out the half meant that it was still a significant gap as the sides exited the court for the locker rooms at 46 to 33 in favour of London. But basketball is a game of momentum and that run gave Newcastle something to reflect on when they had their half-time discussion.

It definitely helped refuel the Eagles for the second twenty minutes of the game as led by the highly impressive ‘Money’ Mike Okauru and captain for the night Malcolm Delpeche they cut into London’s lead. It was a dogged and determined effort that almost brought them rich reward.

They chipped away and chipped away and inside the last two minutes of the third had got themselves to within 4 points and were seriously threatening the Lions den. A narrowly missed Cole Long 3-point effort just failed to cut the gap to a single point and London rallied.

The home side scored five quickly to get the lead back to 9 but Okauru wasn’t about to let his side die away and again with five personal of his own brought Newcastle back to within 4 points. Two Ovie Soko free throws though gave London a six-point lead to take into the final period.

Perhaps tiredness along with foul trouble just then got to Newcastle. Okauru was still superb but couldn’t find enough support to carry Newcastle back and with Rai still dominant London pushed the lead back to 13 at one stage and from there it was damage limitation.

Okauru draining two triples late on in defiance to take him to a massive game-high 35 points and mean that the final score was a ten-point difference and possibly gave Steutel and his players a ‘what-if’ a couple of more players had been available.

They weren’t and therefore Eagles lost their first Championship game of the season whilst London recorded a second successive win to remain unbeaten. Newcastle though know with a full fit and available roster they could well have the measure of London next time out.

The Eagles face another team from the south for the first time in competitive action this Friday night when Surrey 89ers visit Newcastle. Tickets are still available from the box office.