Newcastle Eagles run of successive SLB Championship wins ended at four after a heavy 98-71 loss to league leaders London Lions on the road in The Copper Box on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps despite Eagles having played some great basketball lately not a surprising loss.

The margin of victory and in particular the first half of Sunday’s contest may cause concern for Head Coach Marc Steutel and his staff but in reality, this is a tough, tough Lions side. A side that runs 12-deep every game and still has others waiting in the wings they can add to the mix.

They have been able to welcome back from injury players of the calibre of Joel Scott, Kameron McGusty and Ovie Sokie as well as having current GB Internationals and squad members on the bench.

No-one played more than 25 minutes for London and all 12-players on their roster for the game got meaningful minutes with everyone scoring. Power, depth, and toughness that in the end Newcastle could not match. London’s bench scoring 54 points in the game.

Eagles meanwhile were running an 8-man rotation with all their eight getting on court and they too all scored. Terrell Burden from the bench taking the MVP honours for Newcastle. He had 16 points 6 assists and 4 steals and was one of four Eagles in double figures.

Maceo Jack had 14 points and 6 rebounds, Mitch Clarke 13 points, and Deion Hammond 12 points and 4 rebounds, But Lions swarming disciplined physical defence restricted Ray’Sean Taylor, Gus Okafor, and Cole Long to a combined total of 10 points. That was huge in the game.

Newcastle’s recent great run has come on the back of excellent defence creating free flowing offence which had led to good shot selection and execution. But against a side that prides itself on defence itself they simply did not have any answers particularly in the first half.

The opening two quarters saw London dominate offensively inside with high quality looks that they converted at a high percentage. In effect they did an Eagles on the Eagles as they turned their stifling defence into an offence that they were comfortable running and converting.

By the end of the first period, they already had a seventeen-point lead at 27-10. They continued their relentlessness into the second quarter. Lions almost doubling the Eagles efforts with a 31-16 second ten-minute stretch.

It meant that the half-time lead of 58-26 looked very ominous indeed for Newcastle as the teams headed to the locker rooms. However, there are almost always periods in any basketball game when the nature of the sport and the way it is played can bring rewards.

The Eagles certainly proved that with their second half performance and especially in the third quarter. Showing their togetherness, professionalism, and spirit of character, they were more aggressive poised and focused on both ends of the floor as they showed their pride.

It added up to Burden causing Lions a few problems as he continues to recover from injury. Jack showed his experience and knowledge to support him, and Hammond hit a couple of triples. It meant the Eagles too the period 26-20 to temporarily silence the Lions roar.

London did come back to win the final period by a point as they continued to rotate players in and out and kept throwing fresh bodies at Steutel’s men. It augurs well for a team looking to sweep all four National titles this year that they have the capacity to be able to do so.

But the Eagles can take the positives that they never let their heads go down and despite having the more tired players by far at the end of the forty minutes did win the second twenty. It may not be much consolation, but it is some.

Newcastle now have to re-group look to see if they can get one or two or more bodies healthy and try to build again. They have seven league fixtures let to try and climb a few places in the standings and establish a position where they can launch a run at making the Play-Off final.

Four of those are at home and three on the road and none of them involve London. If Eagles bounce back in the style they had shown before this game, then they can still have a big end to their season.