2014/15 Game Report
Team
Opposition
Home/Away
Competition
Date
Score
Newcastle Eagles Under 18 Men
Doncaster Danum Eagles
H
EBL Under 18’s North Premier
14th March 2015
Newcastle Eagles
103 - 99
Doncaster Danum Eagles
Report
The Eagles playing in black took on the Danum Eagles from Doncaster playing in white looking to revenge an earlier
season close loss… The game followed on from a very close game between the clubs U 16 boy’s teams which the
Eagles in black duly won….
There was a very large crowd including supporters from both teams along with players from the previous game
rousing on their older counterparts…..
The home team playing without starting shooting guard Sean Murphy due to injury jumped out hard on the
travellers from South Yorkshire as all the starters got in on the act early doors and after 3 minutes it was Eagles 10
Doncaster 1… The next 3 minutes saw the teams trade scores and by the 6th minute it was 16-7… Both teams were
struggling to stop the other scoring in the latter 4 minutes of the period and it ended 29-22 in favour of the boys in
black…
The 2nd quarter saw the visitors outscored slightly in the opening 5 minutes as the Eagles edged further ahead at 4435… The next 5 minutes saw the Eagles go on a 12-10 run with some good perimeter shooting from Billy Joe Tait,
drive finishing from Marko Amezaga-Kutija and Chris Rushton to make it Eagles 56 Doncaster 45 at the break… (2723)
The half time has often been the Eagles Achilles heel and thus it proved again as the visitors took control of the game
with both Quinn from the perimeter and Darling inside they swung the 12 point deficit and by the 9th minute they
were up 66-77… The home team had gone to sleep and even a time out in the 5th minute didn’t help the home team
stop the rot and poor decisions were killing them… In the 9th minute another time out however seemed to do the
trick as the home team edged the last 90 seconds by 9-5 making it 75-82… (19-37) it was Logan Soulsby and Tom
Usher who had pulled the home team around…
The last period was set up to be a humdinger and so it proved as the boys in white got out of the blocks early on and
with Darling again hard to guard inside they went on a 2-8 run to make it 77-90… The home team were looking tired
and started to get at each other… The Eagles then rallied with a 7-0 run to close the gap at 84-92 at the 5th minute
mark… The next 2 minutes saw neither team go on a run and at the 7th minute it was 87-94… The last 3 minutes
however saw the boys in black roared on by the crowd and ignited by a big 3 from Usher they closed it up at 93-94
with 2 minutes to play… The boys in white then hit an And 1 through Quinn to lead 93-97 with under 90 seconds to
go… The Eagles then went into overdrive with a 10-0 run as the visitors fouled to gain possession but the Eagles held
their nerve on the free throw line as they made 4 out of 4 to lead 103-97… It was a great effort and it was
Doncaster’s star man Darling who at the death hit a shot and missed his free throw… The game only had 3 seconds
left and the Eagles, off the miss, killed the game for a great comeback win at 103-99… (28-17)
Coach Heath said at the end of the game ‘We had shown great character and resilience to hold onto a win we
thoroughly deserved… We hadn’t again managed to play 40 minutes as it showed in the 3rd quarter but credit to all
our players for once we dug deep and as a team we stepped up and got the job done… When we played tough on
the press and got the rotations right we caused them big issues… However we didn’t sustain that and we came out
cold in the 3rd and gave them a huge run and momentum… There two big players Quinn and Darling took control but
we kept at it and proved our bench was deeper and we had more weapons across the board…’
Eagles Top Scorers- Marko Amezaga-Kutija 26, Chris Rushton 17, Ilja Fjodorovs 16, Logan Soulsby 11, Aaron Wilson
10, Billy Joe Tait 10 and Tom Usher 9….
The Eagles next play Manchester Magic at Westgate Centre for Sport tip off at 12.30pm… Come along and support
the guys…