2013/14 Game Report
Game:
Competition:
Date:
Newcastle Eagles Under 18 Men v Leicester Warriors Under 18 Men
EBL Under 18’s North Premier
15th Feb 2014
Score:
Newcastle Eagles Under 18’s- 74, Leicester Warriors Under 18’s- 69
The Eagles playing in black at home looking to bounce back from an unlucky road loss at Derby last Saturday took on
the very dangerous Warriors playing in white…
The home team were the 5th Eagles team to play at Centre for Sport and they were 1st to score in front of a crowd
around 40 watching the mid table game…
The boys in black lead by their top scorer Eddie Matthew held a 14 to 6 score at the midway point… However the
Warriors had the better of the latter stages and it ended up 18 to 14 at the 1st interval…
The visitors in white were going to prove to be stubborn opponents as they traded baskets with the home side for
most of the 2nd quarter until the 8th minute when Gregor Gray hit 7 points to break open a period lead and edge
the home team further ahead at the half time at 42 to 31… (24-17)
The 2nd half got underway with the visitors turning up the heat in the 1st 5 minutes as they took it 5 to 3, with only
Gray’s perimeter shot to show from a lack lustre start from the Eagles…
However the home team then clicked into gear again as they went on a 10 to 0 run to break open the game again…
The last 3 minutes of the 3rd saw the Eagles take it 8 to 6 lead by Billy Jo Tait on his return from injury with 6
personal… The period was 20 to 11 in favour of the Eagles… (62-43)
The 4th period turned out to be a bit of a disaster for the Eagles as they started to run their bench and poor
chemistry helped the visitors to build up some momentum as they jumped out 16 to 8 in the first 5 minutes of the
4th to close the game up at 68 to 58 to boys the black… The Eagles started to get frustrated with the situation and
missed opportunities almost proved costly, as the Warriors again put the pressure on and lead by Siddique they
closed the game to 72 to 67 with 1 minute to go… Siddique then hit another to make it a 3 point game but the Eagles
with possession of the ball got a good solid offence to kill the game off at 74 to 69… (12-27)
Coach Heath said we played well in spurts but at times we looked jaded and fatigued… It was frustrating especially as
we had Tuesday off training due to illness and injury… Some players just didn’t get going and like our last home game
we just didn’t play with any defensive intensity… However we had enough in the tank at the end to close out the
game… It was good for us to get Tait back and he was one of the pluses for us… We still need to get more production
form certain players and our bench… We have a tough double header next weekend against the high flying
Birmingham A’s…
Eagles Top Scorers- Eddie Matthew 27, Gregor Gray 14 and Billy Jo Tait 10