A punishing Super League Basketball Playoff final proved a game too far for gutsy Newcastle Eagles as the curtain came down on a dramatic campaign for British basketball’s most improved team.

Ultimately an unforgiving injury list cost the Tynesiders dearly on the final day of a topsy-turvy season — with a full-strength Leicester side outsmarting and outmuscling a depleted team down to the bare bones.

Riders’ duo Zach Jackson and Charles Thompson paced a ruthless performance from Rob Paternostro’s dominant side.

And after a slow start Newcastle could do little to prevent a Leicester procession on a night when almost nothing went right for Marc Steutel’s beaten but unbowed players.

In the three previous Playoff finals between two bitter foes, Leicester had won two with the Riders claiming an 84-63 victory as recently as 2017.

Newcastle defeated the East Midlanders in 2012 to complete a season clean sweep but Paternostro’s men hit back the following year to level the clubs’ Playoff series at 1-1.

Overall the two sides had contested 10 major finals heading into Sunday’s O2 showdown — five titles apiece underlining the storied history at the heart of British basketball’s fiercest rivalry.

That enmity reached new heights in Newcastle last month when a strongarm Riders roster took full advantage of some loose officiating to take down the Eagles in front of their own fans.

Despite Christian James’ half-time appeal to the referees to provide greater protection for the men in black, three of Steutel’s men were hurt after the break.

A bloodied Cole Long was rushed to A&E after one particularly brutal exchange in the paint before former Leicester favourite Josh Ward-Hibbert was thrown to the floor.

It all became too much for an irate Stuetel as the Great Britain coach was thrown out of a feisty affair — Newcastle playing the final 62 seconds with just four players.

No doubt Riders, with firebrand Duke Shelton on the bench, came into a hotly anticipated clash determined to rattle a few more Eagles cages.

But Steutel sprung a welcome pre-tip surprise by naming all three of his previously sidelined players — Malcolm Delpeche, Darius Defoe and De’Sean Allen-Eikens — on the bench with the trio receiving a rapturous reception from the 400-plus travelling fans.

And although none was expected to play a part, it was a typically positive move by a coach determined to celebrate the passion and grit at the heart of a truly united Newcastle roster.

The Eagles had knocked out number one seed London Lions en route to the capital but Championship runners-up Leicester raced into an early lead.

Steutel was forced to call a time out six minutes into the first quarter with his side trailing 17-9 and with Newcastle’s shorthanded roster struggling to contain Riley Abercrombie.

That break in play saw Christian James and Seneca Knight launched off the bench but the duo were unable to stop Riders’ powerhouse Thompson from extending Leicester’s lead to 28-16 heading into period two.

The Eagles had shot just 30 per cent from the field during an atypically lacklustre opening 10 minutes — including just two from nine from three-point range.

And although the 2025 Super League Basketball Trophy winners finally found their offensive flow in the second quarter, it was proving difficult to eat into Riders’ double digit lead.

As Thompson edged closer to a double double it was time for Leicester dangerman Jaylin Hunter to remind Newcastle fans of his triple threat.

The do-it-all guard added eight assists and six rebounds to his 23 points as Paternostro’s side cruised to a 106-91 victory at the Vertu Motors Arena in April.

And it was Hunter who led Riders to a 53-42 lead at the half — the Eagles had won a competitive second period 26-25 but Steutel needed more.

Newcastle’s agitated playcaller had been hit with a technical moments before the interval as his frustrations began to boil over.

But there was little respite for Steutel after the break as the increasingly rampant Riders piled on the agony.

Thompson confirmed his double double in double quick time as Leicester’s bigs continued to dominate in the paint.

And as the league runners-up began to up the ante from beyond the arc, the Eagles were still struggling to pose a threat from three-point range.

Riders led 83-63 with 10 minutes on the clock and it suddenly looked like the end of the road for never-say-die Newcastle — on the final day of an otherwise fabulous season.

Yet again a seven-man rotation did the organisation proud and it may well have been a different story for Steutel’s side had any one of Defoe, Delpeche or Allen-Eikens been fit to fight another day.

But one trophy and three finals represent an excellent return for the injury-ravaged Eagles and Newcastle’s players can enjoy a well-earned summer break with their heads held high.