Eagles let lead slip as Riders claim Cup win
NEWCASTLE Eagles were left to lament a poor third-quarter performance as they blew a half-time lead to lose 76-69 to long-time rivals Leicester Riders in the BBL Cup Northern Group.
Heading into the second half, Newcastle held a six-point lead over Leicester.
Unfortunately for coach Ian Macleod’s side, a bruising third quarter and costly turnovers acted as the catalyst for his side’s third consecutive defeat.
While Newcastle wanted to come out of the blocks flying, the first quarter started with the visitors opening the scoring on the back of an uncharacteristic Rahmon Fletcher turnover as they silenced the Eagles’ Community Arena.
If the atmosphere was a little subdued to begin with, it was positively raucous when the ball found Eagles’ forward Mike Morsell’s hands.
The Washington DC native managed to nail two consecutive threepointers with supreme ease to get the crowd going.
Suddenly, the ECA was rocking, both sides flying up and down the court under the night lights.
With the scores tied at 12-12 midway through the first quarter it was anyone’s game.
Luckily for Newcastle, they had Darius Defoe – who managed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck with a number of powerful scores to put Newcastle in control of the contest - the score 25-18 when the whistle went,
The second quarter started in similar fashion to the first – Newcastle turned the ball over and were duly punished by Leicester.
Then, another quick score from Leicester guard Kyron Cartwright meant the Eagles’ seven-point lead had suddenly evaporated, leaving coach Macleod to call a timeout.
From then on it was a back-andforth contest, both sides eager to take control of the game.
When the half-time whistle went, it was Newcastle who led 41-35.
After the break, there was probably a hope the Eagles would start this quarter better than their last two.
Unfortunately, they started in the exact same fashion – another turnover which was followed by another Leicester score. There was a sense of unease which had penetrated the air of the ECA – the Eagles’ inaccuracies and mistakes continuing to let Leicester into the game.
The Riders looked as though they were the home team, going on an 11-point scoring streak to take the lead 52-46 midway through Q3.
All of a sudden, it was the Eagles who were chasing the game.
While it looked as though Leicester were primed to run away with the contest, Macleod’s side fought hard to stay in the game.
Magical footwork from Rahmon Fletcher helped the Eagles cut Leicester’s lead to two.
When the buzzer went, Newcastle found themselves down by two points – Leicester leading 59-57 heading into the fourth quarter.
The ECA got louder and louder thanks in part to Sade Aded Hussein’s game-tying free throw.
However, Leicester were in no mood to let the home side regain the lead, swiftly taking control with two quick scores before strong defence halted a number of Eagles attacks.
With just five minutes left, coach Macleod called a timeout with the Eagles trailing by four.
Straight out of the timeout, Newcastle managed to cut Leicester’s lead to two thanks to excellent shooting from Morsell but time was beginning to run out for Macleod’s men with the visitors keen to frustrate the hosts.
While a moment of sheer brilliance from Kai Williams got the crowd to its feet late on, the third quarter-slump proved to be the undoing of the beaten home side.