Sharks reveal their teeth to bite the Eagles
NEWCASTLE Eagles endured a nightmare of a day - cumulating in a heavy 93-69 loss at Sheffield last night.
Traffic problems on the A1 got the Eagles off to a bad start and with the going slow it meant a huge amount of time spent on the road for one of their shortest journeys of the season.
It was perhaps a sign of things to come.
Newcastle, who had lost to the Sharks in overtime on their own court last weekend, were looking to gain quick revenge in Yorkshire and even up the BBL Cup North Group.
However, it was not to be as the home side dominated throughout.
The Eagles had brought back fitagain Mike Morsell in place of the benched Rodney Glasgow - but the free-scoring American looked rusty after his lay-off and picked up fouls almost as quickly as points.
Horrendous foul trouble with Morsell and top-scoring Darius Defoe fouling out plagued Newcastle’s efforts to get back in the game.
Add in a little indiscipline as the normally reliable Eagles players picked up technical fouls and turnovers and it was not their night.
Perhaps their legs were still on the bus and the nightmare journey was still fresh in their minds.
Whatever it was, the home side capitalised on it early to leap into the lead.
A blistering 10-2 start bit hard into the Eagles as the Sharks looked sharp.
A brief Newcastle rally sparked by the introduction of Defoe saw them claw back the deficit until Mackey McKnight hit a triple for his side and Sheffield finished strongly to take a 25-12 lead into the second quarter.
The Eagles started the second much better, Morsell and Eddie Matthew hitting triples as they pulled back to within six - outscoring the Yorkshire side by 2-1 and forcing a Sharks time-out.
The break worked the magic for Sheffield as they responded with a 9-2 run.
This forced coach MacLeod to answer the time-out call.
Unfortunately, his side did not respond in the same manner and with Nick Lewis scoring for fun and the Sharks dominating the boards they pushed their lead out to an impressive 51-32 lead as the halftime buzzer sounded.
If MacLeod had read the riot act at half-time it did not register with his players, who still could not get any rhythm.
An impressive 12-4 run took them to a huge 27-point lead at one stage 63-36.
Defoe and Fletcher briefly rallied the visitors, aided by two quick baskets inside by John Mitchell, and the gap closed to 15 points.
However, McKnight had the last say of the quarter with an NBAlength triple to give the Eagles an 18-point mountain to climb in the final ten minutes.
That climb became insurmountable once the Sharks ripped off the first seven points of the fourth quarter unanswered to stretch the gap again to 25 points.
Newcastle could come up with no answers or suitable riposte as they slipped to their heaviest defeat of the season so far.
SHEFFIELD : Mike Tuck 22, Mackey McKnight 20, Nick Lewis 19. NEWCASTLE : Darius Defoe 15, Rahmon Fletcher 13, John Mitchell 12.