Eagles School of Excellence Under 16 Boys News

Saturday 13^th February 2010

Newcastle Eagles (24, 14, 18, 11) 67 : 57 (8, 20, 10, 19) Nottingham Nova

The Newcastle Eagles Under-16’s recorded their first double of the season and their third conference win in total with a hard-fought victory over Nova whom they’d beaten down at Nottingham earlier in the season by 62 – 56.

This win was a little more convincing and comfortable although Nova fought back well after looking like they were going to be blown out earlier in the game. The young Eagles almost buckled under a strong Nova comeback but had enough character and determination to come through in the clutch.

Newcastle were once again led by a stellar performance from Jack Wilson who continues to put up big numbers this season and lead the team in scoring. But in truth this was another great team effort with The Eagles strong defence being the catalyst for victory especially in the 1^st and 3^rd quarters.

And they pulled off this win supported by Senior Eagles Men’s Head Coach Fab Flournoy who was on hand to lend his assistance to Coach Ian MacLeod as well encouraging the boys both on and from the bench. Certainly it was great to see Flournoy involved at this level and the players certainly responded to his presence.

In the 1^st quarter Newcastle played some of their best basketball of the season. They flashed in to a 7 – 0 lead with buckets from Rob Bolt, Darren Crane and Wilson as they dominated the visitors. One particular set play ran so well Eagles were able to rip another 9 – 0 run points all scored by Wilson who Nova were struggling to cope with.

Late in the quarter Eagles put another 6 – 0 burst in starting with a Bolt deuce and Liam Hampton coming off the bench to score two quick baskets and after ten minutes it was 24 – 8 to the home side.

Nova recovered a little in the second period. The early minutes were fairly even until Crane hit two baskets in a row to ease Newcastle out to a 32 – 15 advantage. Nova rallied but Wilson was their nemesis and he scored all six points in another Eagles 6 – 2 run that saw them up 38 – 21.

Nova though rallied well and scored the last seven points of the half including their only triple of the game on the buzzer to narrow the gap to 38 – 28 at the break. This run by Nottingham showed that they weren’t going to lie-down and gave Eagles plenty to think about during the interval.

And it seemed they’d learned their lesson and regrouped well as Andy Wilkes go the half underway with a strong basket inside and Wilson with six more had his side back up by 18 at 46 – 28. Nova closed the gap by three before Eagles went off on another crucial burst.

Wilson led it with the first two baskets but there were also baskets by Bolt, Kallum Tait showing instant offence by coming strong off the bench and scoring with his first touch and a special moment for Lawrie Thompson who after a virtual two year battle against injury netted his first points in Eagles colours.

The 10 – 2 effort gave Newcastle their largest lead of the game at 56 – 33 and with less than a quarter and a half to go it looked like an insummountable gap for Nottingham to climb and close. But, they had other ideas and proceeded to give Eagles a real scare.

They closed out the third with a 5 – 0 reply and then continued this in to the last ten minutes extending the run to 12 unanswered as Eagles lost their way and they were back to 56 – 45 before Crane finally broke the stranglehold with a deuce. But Nova were not finished and responded with another 9-points without reply and suddenly it was game on at 58 – 54.

Wilkes put Eagles back up by six with Nottingham again responding. Then came the dagger! Bolt got free in the corner and knocked down a triple to put Eagles 63 – 56 inside the last two minutes and from their with Nova forced to foul Newcastle were able to see the game out as Joe Wildman knocked down two free-throws and Wilson had the final say and basket making the final score 67 – 57.

A great win for Newcastle then and one in the end they had to fight hard to achieve as they seemed to run out of a bit of steam between the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters. Nevertheless it should be noted that this is the first game this season that Newcastle have led from start to finish and that is a satisfying statistic for Coach Ian MacLeod and his players to take in to their next few games.

Newcastle Eagles (21, 10, 19, 20, 6, 10) 86 : 83 (21, 19, 18, 12, 6, 7) Northampton Thunder

After Double Overtime

The Newcastle Eagles Under-16’s recorded only their second league win of the season in thrilling style at TyneMet College. The boys had to summon up all their character bouncing back from an overtime loss the previous week to Cheshire to prove once and for all that they can play at this level. 

Against a side that they had lost to by 33 points earlier in the season they showed superb fighting spirit to come through in a game that went to double over time. This was a huge win for the Boys who as well as picking up the W came up trumps in a tight clutch situation with nerves jangling on and off-court.

The Young Eagles were led superbly by Jack Wilson who poured in a game-high 36 points whilst Co-Captains Darren Crane, Bradley Hadfield and Luke King all showed their status with double figure contributions.

Down early in the first period at 10 – 2 the introduction of Wilson off the bench gave the young Eagles great impetus and they fought back to take the lead at one stage with Wilson contributing 13.  Joe Wildman hit a nice jump shot in the period and Darren Crane got off the mark with 4 personal before Northampton levelled the period with an And 1 at 21 – 21. 

Hadfield with a deuce and an Ellory Browne free-throw put Eagles in front early in the second. Once again though Thunder came storming back and despite a triple from King, Eagles fell behind and at one stage trailed by 11 at 38 – 27 only managing to cut the deficit to single figures at the half on a King triple to send the teams in to the locker rooms with Northampton up 40 – 31.

Despite both Crane and Wilson adding to their personal tallies it was Northampton who started the second half the stronger and took a 17-point lead at 54 – 37. Wilson rallied the Eagles hitting five in a row including a triple and with support from Hadfield and Browne it was 58 – 50 Thunder going in to the final stanza.

Eagles gradually wilted away at that lead with Crane, Wilson and Hadfield at the fore but it was Rob Bolt’s long-range bomb that brought the scores level at 66 all. King put the Eagles in front by one but back came Northampton to go two in front before Crane made a great basket to make it 70-all with the last score of regulation.

In to the first overtime period and a 6 – 0 Eagles run capped by Wilson’s triple gave them a 76 – 72 lead before it was Northampton’s turn to come back and level the match at 76-all and force a second overtime period.

Eagles somehow summed up more energy from somewhere and Hadfield tripled to put them back in front. This sparked a 10 – 0 burst with Andy Wilkes scoring five in a row and Wilson making it 86 – 78 to break the game open and although Northampton did score the game’s final five points this included a triple virtually on the buzzer with the Eagles already celebrating a memorable win.

NEWCASTLE SCORERS : Jack Wilson 36, Darren Crane 14, Brad Hadfield 10, Luke King 10, Andy Wilkes 7, Rob Bolt 3, Ellory Browne 3 and Joe Wildman 3.

Saturday 23^rd January 2010

A fabulous match watched by the senior Eagles Head Coach Fab Flournoy ended in a heartbreaking loss for the young Eagles and especially birthday boy Darren Crane who didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. But in truth none of the boys did as they came agonisingly close to picking up a huge win against a side that they’d lost to by 31 points earlier in the season.

Newcastle had played Cheshire away in their first ever Premier League North game back in October and lost heavily 74 – 33 so despite this defeat the improvement and competiveness was there for all to see and perhaps the disappointment was even bigger as Eagles could have easily saw this game out.

Eagles shot only 19 out of a possible 45 free-throws and whilst Cheshire themselves also only made 22 out of 39 the difference was if the homes side had made the 3 free-throws in the opposite direction it would have given them the win.

However, this was not about free-throws. It was a hard fought battle that could have gone either way and a game that was a credit to both sides and organisations played in a great spirit.

The first quarter hardly hinted at the drama to come later in the game as Eagles edged a very low scoring ten minutes 10 – 6 with a terrific defensive display. Their own offence had hardly sparked in to life but Crane did look in the mood with 8 personal out of Newcastle’s ten.

The second period was a real humdinger. Eagles courtesy of Jack Wilson and Chris Burnard led 16 – 10 and then 18 – 14 but back came Jets to level and then teams really slugged it out. The lead went one way then the other. Luke King put his side in front 24 – 23 but Jets converted two free-throws with no time on the clock to take the first half honours by a point.

Jets came flying out of the locker room and left the Eagles in their wake storming in to a 32 – 24 lead before Wilson and Andy Wilkes cut the gap to five at 36 – 31. With both teams in the penalty players kept going to the line but nerves were playing a big part.

Eagles made only 3 of 10 whilst but Jets rallied and trimmed the Eagles lead to three at 49 – 46 only for Chris Burnard to take it back to five. Cheshire thougJets hit the same but from only 6 efforts from the line and with 2:47 to go in the 3^rd Coach Macleod took a time out to try and calm the nerves and steady his side down. And what an effect it had. 

They came out of the time-out in aggressive and positive mode. Crane hit two free-throws to kick start a 13 – 2 Eagles burst where he added four more, King hit a triple and Wilson a deuce before Rob Bolt stepped up to the line and hit two charity stripe shots to send Newcastle in to the final ten minutes up 47 – 41.

Andy Wilkes took them further in front to open the last stanza with an inside basket h had the momentum and a 6 – 0 run took them back in front. Wilkes and Liam Hampton then both made a free-throw each and crane crashing inside took Eagles back to a 3-point lead.

Jets levelled again with an AND 1 but Crane then tripled and Wilson finally made 2 free-throws to give Newcastle a five point advantage at 60 – 55 but back again came the Jets and somehow they levelled the game at 60 – 60.

Eagles had the last chance to win in regulation but just came up short and in to overtime the game went. The boys initially sneaked ahead 66 – 63 but couldn’t hold their nerve from the line and Cheshire edged in front at 71 – 67 and although Crane had a final AND1 to get them back to within a point, Jets clung on to score the next and crucial basket and take the win.

A sensational game of basketball and one that in the end the boys just couldn’t convert to a win. It was a devastated bunch of boys and Coach that made their weary way off court after a great effort. Whilst ultimately they may have been thinking that they should have won they need to take the fact that they had given a side that had beaten them easily earlier in the season such a close game.

Saturday 12^th December 2009 – Premier North

Their spirit and effort can be reflected in the fact that they actually won the final quarter after the three previous all showed Sheffield’s strength and ability. It meant that despite a 35-point defeat Coach Ian Macleod was not as disappointed as he may have been.

One of the reasons for this was the disruption to his plans prior to the tip-off which went a long way to deciding the outcome. Forward Andy Wilkes was injured in the warm-up as was Lawrie Thompson and although Hamish Crackett was back in the ranks from the Under-18’s he had just played the game immediately prior to tip-off.

“The tone was probably set early as we had two similar players injured in the warm-up which left us a little short on forwards with four being out and it did change our plans a lot. We talked about 10-15 minutes before the game looking to play a particular way and then we had to change things at the last minute which didn’t help.”

“But at this level and standard we should be able to react to that and give a good account of ourselves. We weren’t initially overawed by Sheffield but we kept making small and frequent mistakes which they took advantage of. The mistakes came about because we were didn’t try to do things that we should do. We had planned for Sheffield and were quite set for what they would bring but then as soon as the tip-off happened we just didn’t execute.”

This was evident in the start to the game as although Darren Crane put The Eagles in front, Sheffield had the first of many runs where they outscored Newcastle. This one being 16 unanswered points, which gave the Boys a mountain to climb without the personnel to scale it.

Crane did continue to be the Eagles main scoring threat and tried his best to pull the side around and when Coach Macleod went to the bench Ellory Browne briefly flickered a comeback with some determined plays. Sharks though remained calm and focused and back to back triples to end the 1^st gave them a 34 – 14 lead.

The second period saw Sheffield increase their lead further and seemed that every time Newcastle tried to get back in the game they had an answer. Typical of this was a 6 – 0 Eagles run that was answered by a 9 – 0 Sharks reply. Crane had continued his scoring run and Brad Hadfield also looked lively. But it was not enough as Sharks closed out the half 61 – 32 ahead.

Coach Macleod reflected on this passage of play. “Turnovers were the key, we threw the basketball away and made poor decisions far too much which put too much pressure on our defence and gave them little boosts. For instance we’d get one basket and then turn the ball over twice and they’d get two. This then puts pressure on your offence to try and make up for what you can’t do on defence and it was a snowball effect.”

In the third it was much of the same as Sheffield kept up the tempo and continued to outscore the home side throughout the ten minutes. Kallum Tait did come off the bench for a rare appearance and knocked down a triple and a deuce in a brief cameo but in effect Crane was still the only Eagle at this stage looking likely.

With the score at 83 – 45 going in to the final period The Eagles did at least have the consolation of winning the last quarter and showed their spirit. Sheffield had obviously done their homework and up to that point had suffocated Eagles leading season scorer Jack Wilson. But he finally threw off the shackles to record 11 personal and help his side to a 21 – 18 last ten minutes although this meant Sheffield did run out 101 – 66 victors.

Reflecting after the game, Macleod paid tribute to Sheffield whilst still managing to pull some positives out of the performance. “Sheffield were consistent throughout, they were aggressive throughout and they were well organised. We were erratic and tried to freestyle far too much. We tried to do things as individuals too much. The reason we had to do that was because we had no positional support and tactically we weren’t there for each other.”

“We have to show for each other and not just for ourselves. We have to show up in a game to take the burden off each other and we didn’t do that today.”

“We had a couple of improved individual performances. I don’t think anyone could say they played well today but a couple could say they improved today and take that forward as individuals for confidence. Unfortunately it was about individuals today when it shouldn’t have been, it should have been about a team effort.”

The young Eagles crashed out of the National Sureshot Cup at Manchester losing for the second time to a Magic side who surely must be the best team in the country at this level? If they aren’t then the future of British Basketball should be looking bright.

Manchester has a basketball programme envied by all and one most are striving to match. It has been established for a number of years and continues to be successful turning out athletic, fit and strong players, many who have gone on to better and bigger things. It is exactly the sort of team and programme the Eagles School of Excellence needs to compete against to make progress.

So, whilst the defeat on paper by 40+ points for the second time this season to a Magic side doesn’t look good, it is no disgrace and these are points Coach Ian Macleod emphasised in his after-game summary.

“On paper quite a big loss, actually it is quite a big loss, 41-points to any team including Manchester is a big loss. What I really like about this game was we prepared well for it, knew what to expect. Not just about their style of play but their individuals. We anticipated their starting five and were able to assign individual match-ups.”

“Within the first five minutes we were competing, more than competing, as we matched them and they had to call a time-out to rearrange things, change things up and look at us differently so clearly we had an effect on them.”

True words as The Eagles got off to a cracking and blistering start. From the tip Luke King hit Brad Hadfield on the run who finished well and then after a defensive stop and Jack Wilson rebound it was Darren Crane driving through the heart of the Manchester D as he crashed home another deuce to make it 4 – zip.

Manchester put together a 6 – 0 reply before Wilson levelled and then Crane made it 8 – 8 forcing that Magic time-out with only 3:09 gone and the scores level at 8 – 8. It is very unusual for Manchester to call a time-out so early in the game and the young Eagles have to be congratulated for their start.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got. Manchester came out of the time-out strong and although Hadfield scored again and Hamish Crackett, released from Under-18’s duty, kept the score close, Magic made a 12 – 0 run at 15- 12 to go 27 – 12 up and there was no way back.

Crackett and Hadfield did give the Eagles some momentum to take into the second period combining for a 7 – 2 run that made the score 29 – 19 after ten minutes of frantic, fast paced basketball action.

“Offensively we did well early on but what let us down, particularly after their time-out was our help defence which wasn’t good enough and we also got out rebounded particularly on our own defensive end which made things tough.”

Manchester stung by The Eagles early first quarter were now in full, pedal to the metal mode and certainly playing as hard as they could which in some ways was a credit to the Newcastle boys. A 12 – 4 start to the second period, Crane again scoring and Andy Wilkes showing some good power inside for Eagles, made the result a foregone conclusion but not the contest.

The Eagles were competing well as Macleod rotated in and out to keep things fresh trying to stem the flow. Rob Bolt came of the bench to hit a couple of buckets but Manchester’s quickness, strength and drive was beginning to show and it was no surprise when they led by 55 – 34 at the half-time buzzer.

Early in the second half Newcastle struggled as Magic poured it on. Hadfield’s deuce was the only Eagles score as the lead went out to 70 – 36. But, this set of boys just seem to forget about the scoreboard and just play basketball with as much determination as they can.

With Wilkes doing well inside, Crane slashing inside and Wilson adding 10 personal as he came to grips with his game and Manchester’s D, the Eagles ended the 3^rd quarter the stronger taking the later part 16 – 13 to make it 83 – 52 with ten minute left to play.

In that final stanza Manchester once again had the better of the scoring and took the honours. But, once again a lot of the reasons for that was that they had to take the visitors seriously and never let up their pressure or eased off as Newcastle’s youngsters continued to give it all, drawing fouls to send them to the line and Hadfield hitting the only triple of the game.

The final score line, as has been said, looks huge but the reasons behind it are positive and encouraging for the Young Eagles. They had five boys in double figures meaning a great team ethic which they showed throughout the full 40 minutes. Manchester at no point ever relented which is a compliment to how seriously they took the opposition and Newcastle walked off the court beaten but not bowed.

“We tried to make them do things offensively that they didn’t want to do. Shoot from further out, drive when they didn’t want to and rebound and hustle. To Manchester’s credit they responded very well to everything we made them do and there’s no doubting their quality or ability.”

“Offensively I just wanted hard work, for the guys to push the ball hard, keep it simple and be aggressive and that’s what we did. I thought at times we were excellent but their pressure and pace did get to us at times and we got a little bit tired.”

“They are very athletic, very deep and very aggressive and when you can do that for forty minutes it grinds and wears teams down. I thought though we were consistent throughout and competed hard in every quarter. Teams often come to Manchester and get beaten up early and never recover. Our boys never gave up, showed great heart and didn’t let their heads go down.”

“I’m very happy with the effort of the lads. There were some great individual performances particularly going to the hoop and being aggressive. It was a tough game where I was very happy with the work ethic of the players. They did what I asked of them. We did worry them at times but just came up a little bit short.”

NEWCASTLE SCORERS : Bradley Hadfield 13, Jack Wilson 12, Darren Crane 11, Andy Wilkes 11, Hamish Crackett 10, Rob Bolt 4, Joe Wildman 3 and Luke King 3 (2 awarded)

Saturday 21st November 2009

Newcastle Eagles (19, 9, 17, 14) 59 : 101 Manchester Magic (27, 21, 28, 25)

On paper this looks a heavy defeat for the boys especially after last weekend’s double-winning achievement. However, there were a lot of positives to take from a game against a side that could well end up as National Champions in this age group this season.

This was something that Coach Ian Macleod reflected on after the game.

“It was always going to be a tough game today. We knew exactly what type of game it was going to be and we prepared for it all week. We knew that Manchester would come with physical pressure and that’s what they did. This was a game that we were not supposed to win and if we had the kids would have remembered it for the rest of their lives.”

“We worried Manchester right from the start and made them come and earn a win and deserve their win which they did. They are a very good team that are well drilled and they executed very well.”

Despite going in to the game as big underdogs the Eagles unsettled the Magic at the start and in the first ten minutes were right in the game. Darren Crane with two free-throws after he was fouled driving to the basket got the game’s scoring underway. Manchester immediately hit back and despite Luke King’s driving deuce were up 13 – 4 early.

Jack Wilson pulled four back for the home side but Manchester were looking strong and even Andy Wilkes’ and 1 from a strong inside move could only make a minor indent to the lead. However, playing with great spirit the Eagles produced a strong 7 – 0 run to cut the gap to 1 at 18 – 19.  Unfortunately they them got in to foul trouble and Manchester made 11 of 12 free-throws in the quarter to establish control.

With Wilson on three fouls and going to the bench, the Eagles after a bright start lost their way a little and faced the second quarter already down 27 – 19.

“We started off quite well and I thought we handled their full court press ok. We did execute well in transition and got some easy baskets but the biggest difference was free-throws Manchester missed just one in that first quarter and we missed five which lost us some momentum.”

“After this good start we got in to foul trouble and lost one or two key players. In the second and third we made some bad reads and didn’t continue with what we knew would work. We ad-libbed a little bit too much in that time and gave Manchester easier options on how to beat us.”

This certainly showed in the second when with Wilson on the bench the rest of the team couldn’t find a way to score consistently and when they created opportunities they didn’t finish well. The Eagles did courtesy of an Ellory Browne drive and score and a Bradley Hadfield jumper get within six at one point.

However, runs of 12 – 1 and 13 – 4 opened up a significant gap that Newcastle were never going to close and they went in to the locker room at half-time well adrift fro all their spirit and energy at 48 – 28.

The third saw the Magic consolidate and improve on that lead as they opened up a 30-point gap with ten unanswered to start the quarter as part of a 14 – 4 run that saw them up 62 – 32. Newcastle dug deep and kept on battling though and almost matched their counterparts for the rest of the rest of the quarter.

Kallum Tait came off the bench to score two quick baskets and although Wilson was shackled, Hadfield, Crane, Wilkes and King with two of two from the line all scored to keep some respectability on the board as the teams approached the final ten minutes with the score at 76 – 45.

To Manchester’s credit they never let up and no matter who came off the bench the pressure was still on as the visitors seem to finish well virtually every time down the court. Macleod went to his bench to give all his players a taste of top-flight Premier Conference action and again they showed great attitude and energy giving their all against a strong, strong side.

But in the end the Magic stretched away and became the first side to top 100 points against the Eagles this season and the main point of interest for the home team was Wilson’s late triple that once again made him the side’s top scorer as the buzzer sounded on a 101 – 59 defeat for the young Eagles.

Macleod and his players though were far from despondent. A bit better finishing and tight defence around the rim and this game could have easily been 20 points different, this was a fact that Macleod reflected on at the end.

“I took a lot of positives out of today’s game. No. 1 was the energy and commitment of the guys. It was a very intense game where we worked very hard but perhaps at times needed to work smarter. But we put 60 points on them which wasn’t bad when you consider we weren’t great in the 2^nd and 3^rd. I do think at times we looked the better side and worried them making them work hard throughout.”

“I think the two wins last weekend have pulled us together as a team and the attitude was much more positive today and whilst they are hurting from the defeat they are not too despondent. We gave a good account of ourselves and never lay down and let them roll over us. We made them come and beat us and we worked hard.”

“We definitely belong at this level and today showed that. We’ve had two losses previously that we should have turned in to wins and whilst this today was always going to be tough we matched them for long periods. They just had a few big runs that we couldn’t contain and have to learn from.”

Sunday 15^th November 2009 - SureShot Cup

Durham Wildcats (22, 17, 20, 21) 80 : 102 Newcastle Eagles (12, 36, 23, 31)

The second part of a hard weekend for the Young Eagles saw them complete an excellent two game road trip as they ventured in to the Spennymoor Leisure Centre and tamed the Wildcats in their own den. The win coming just over 24 hours after the win at Nottingham saw them advance to the next round of the SureShot Cup in emphatic style.

This was a game against opposition that the Eagles had played at Under-15 level last season in the Northern Conference. After making the step-up to Premier standard Newcastle were the favourites and by the time 40 minutes had elapsed had deserved that favourites tag.

It was also great for the boys to build on the Nottingham win and keep the momentum going. It was also a game that gave Coach Ian Macleod to run a few players in to the system and try out a few new tactics without losing the focus of what the job was. A 22-point win gave him and his players a satisfying feeling as they accomplished their mission.

It did however not look that way in the first ten minutes. The Eagles jumped out early and with Andy Wilkes looking more like his old self and Jack Wilson continuing his impressive scoring form of the season they were quickly 8 – 1 in front and Macleod went to his bench early.

It was a move that initially did not pay off as the changes upset the rhythm and those coming on to court failed to execute in the way the starters had. Durham took full advantage and a 17 – 0 reply saw them go up by ten at 18 – 8. Macleod turned back to his regulars and Wilson and Darren Crane scored but Durham held sway and a 22 – 12 lead after the first.

Macleod kept his starters on as the second opened and they responded. A 12 – 2 burst with all scoring including four more from Wilson saw them level things up at 24 – 24. The Wildcats responded to go back up at 34 – 26 but Macleod and his players held their nerve.

This time as he subbed players in and out Macleod got the response he wanted. Wilson was scoring freely but it was Kallum Tait that caught the eye as he contributed his first points in Eagles colours with 3 quick baskets in a Newcastle run of 16 unanswered points to take them in to a 42 – 34 lead and they were never headed again.

Wilkes and Rob Bolt kept the pressure on Durham and helped the visitors to a 36 – 17 quarter score that had them going in to the locker room 48 – 39 ahead.

The third period was a tight affair with Newcastle just shading it 23 – 20 to increase their overall lead. They started the quarter well with an 13 – 4 run including seven from Bradley Hadfield including a triple and other scores from Wilson, Crane and Wilkes. At 61 – 45 in front the game was running away from the over powered Wildcats.

However the rallied briefly to cut the gap to 9-points before another Eagles 6 – 0 run took them back out again. Five from the Charity stripe briefly raised Durham’s hopes as the sides entered the final ten minutes but it was not going to be enough to halt a Newcastle side whose whole roster was now playing together as a team and executing well.

With Newcastle holding the gap comfortably, Wilson sparked another 8 – 0 run which included a deuce from Ellory Browne and another inside from Wilkes and at 89 – 69 it was game over. The focus now was on whether the Eagles could hit 100 in a game. They did as Wilson scored 8 of his side’s last ten points to take his tally for the game to a superb 45 although the honour of bringing up the ton fell to Wilkes and the final score of 102 – 80 was as convincing as it sounds.

It was a delighted Coach Macleod who reflected on a good day’s and weekend work for his young charges. “Our target this weekend was to get two wins, it was achievable and we did it. We worked on similar things during the week for both games and in particular our interior defence and our ball pressure from the guards.”

“It was very good in both games particularly today. We did rotate a lot of players in today giving people a chance to get some minutes which perhaps they wouldn’t have done normally. But, as a team we really bit down and performed today.”

“In the first quarter we were not as aggressive as I would have liked and not massively organised offensively. But I think 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quarter our strength in depth really paid and we were able to perform with various different people on court.”

“Overall it was nice to get two wins and it should be a good confidence boost going forward. It was also nice to win today by playing a little bit different, different offences, different defences and it was a good opportunity to develop today as opposed to just getting a win.”

Nottingham Nova         (17, 6, 14, 19)      56 : 62        Newcastle Eagles (14, 21, 12, 15)

The Young Eagles finally got their season off to a winning start after three tough losses in previous conference games. Going in to the game The Eagles seemed as if they needed a win to prove to themselves that they could play at this level and boost the confidence and morale of the squad.

And to win on the road is always a rewarding experience and whilst the final score line indicates a close game, it was a game Newcastle, after the first quarter, probably could have and should have won by more. But faced with an opposition that wouldn’t go away they’ll be relieved to finally record that first win of the season.

This was a fact that Coach Ian Macleod reflected on after the game. “It’s always good to get the first one under the belt and it’ll be a big boost for the lads moving forward. Although we are mainly focused on development to get one in the win column always helps with confidence and hopefully we can move forward from here.”

Bradley Hadfield got the Eagles underway with the first basket of the game but Nova hit back to go up 6 – 2 before Jack Wilson levelled things up with a couple of buckets. Wilson and Andy Wilkes scored later in the quarter but the Eagles missed no less than 9 free-throws in the period and despite dominating this was the deciding factor in them being 3 down at 17 – 14 after ten minutes.

The boys needed to turn their dominance in to points as the second opened and this they did to devastating effect. With Nova in front at 21 – 18, Newcastle unleashed a 15 – 0 run on their hosts to effect a decisive turn in the game. The feature of this was the spread of scorers.

Darren Crane, Chris Burnard, Ellory Browne, another Hadfield deuce and seven from Wilson made up the run as the Eagles soared in to a 33 – 23 lead. Nova stopped the rot with two free-throws but back came Wilson and sent his side in to the locker room 35 – 23 ahead.

The half-time break did not stop the Eagles momentum as they came out fired up and continued to put the pressure on Nova. An 11 – 0 start with four a-piece from Hadfield and Wilson and a triple from Luke King gave Newcastle a huge 46 – 23 advantage and it began to look like a long way back for the home side.

However, basketball is a game of runs and just as Newcastle began to relax they allowed Nottingham back in and a 14 – 1 home run brought them back in to the game only ten points down going in to the final period at 47 – 37. The question on everyone’s minds at that time was it too little too late.

The Eagles stood firm in the early part of the final period. They actually increased their lead again to 12 at 57 – 45 following some good inside play by Wilkes and support from the guards and in particular Hadfield. With the game seemingly slipping from their grasp Nova launched one final effort and the Eagles just for a moment wobbled.

As Newcastle were fouled and continued to miss free-throws their lead was clawed back with each passing play and moment until the sides entered the last few seconds. Nottingham got back to within 5 at one stage but Wilkes finally hit a free-throw as time wound down to clinch the win at 62 – 56.

Those final few minutes saw the Eagles having to play without Wilson who after leading his side in scoring had fouled out. However, it seemed that as the boys stopped scoring they were also determined to make sure Nova did as well and tenacious defence and great spirit held them out to the final buzzer and a great first win.

Coach Macleod made mention of the defence in his post-match analysis. “I think defence was the key to the game throughout. We only conceded 56 points which is well below our target. I think the score line was closer than it should have been. We were 9/27 from free-throws and even if we’d made 60 – 70% more it would have made life more comfortable.”

“Our execution tactically for most of the game was excellent. Offensively we didn’t finish well in the first half as I felt we could have taken a 20 – 25 point lead in to the half-time break. The second quarter was what gave us the cushion for the rest of the game. We won that 21 – 6 and it started from our defence and the transition to offence.”

“Our guards worked hard and enabled the forwards to get in and make steals and plays. Energy was another factor from everyone. Energy from while rebounding, energy on defence and I felt the boys dug in and deserved their win.”

NEWCASTLE SCORERS : Jack Wilson 22, Bradley Hadfield 15, Andy Wilkes 12, Darren Crane 4, Luke King 3, Ellory Browne 2, Chris Burnard 2 and Joe Wildman 2.

Saturday 7^th November 2009

Newcastle Eagles 65 (21, 20, 11, 13) Trafford 73 (14, 12, 25, 22)

After two tough road losses the Under-16’s finally got their home season underway with the visit of Trafford to the TyneMet College. The boys were looking forward to playing on familiar terroritory and were further boosted by the appearance of Hamish Crackett for the first time this season. The big forward has been playing up at Under-18’s level to boost his development but was available to try and help his own team-mates and age group search for that first win of the campaign.

Unfortunately despite his presence the young Eagles slipped to their third consecutive defeat and are certainly finding life in the Premier North Conference tough at present. But, they are getting closer and this time they lead all the way in to the 4^th quarter but just couldn’t find the finish to the game to register that all-important first win.

Coach Ian Macleod really felt this was a game his team should have won and let slip away. “In the third quarter we stopped doing what we had been doing right and went away from what had got us in front. It wasn’t a conscious decision it just seemed as if individuals thought something else should be tried and it didn’t, we got complacent.”

“Today Trafford didn’t win the game we lost it. It was a game we should have won it was ours and we threw it away again. We need to be more consistent and play all four quarters. This was another one where we only played three quarters. At Northampton last week our fourth quarter was abysmal and today it was the third. We need to find our level and run with it. We need to find a steady engine and avoid spikes and pitfalls.”

“Credit to Trafford who played at a pretty consistent level throughout and that’s what we need to do. We were up and down and at pivotal points we need to step up and take a little bit more responsibility.”

Trafford Coach Graham Williams was though, naturally, delighted with his side’s win. “An under-15 group of boys who are playing a year young as we believe it gives them the opportunity to improve their game. What I was really pleased about was the boys worked their socks off and gave everything for the team.”

It had all started so well for The Eagles with the presence of Crackett drawing attention inside, Jack Wilson in particular found space and time to wreak havoc and really looked like a man on a mission. He scored 15 of his side’s 21 first quarter points including an authoritative dunk on a fast break that really set the tone for the first ten minutes.

At one point Newcastle led by as many as 12 at 18 – 4 and although Trafford did close the gap a little by the close of the period it was a good one for the home side who led 21 – 14.

The second saw backup forwards Andy Wilkes and Marshall Patterson draw on the confidence of the first and with the Eagles moving the ball well and getting good looks inside they were opening Trafford up and scoring really well. Trafford had got in to early foul trouble and there’s no doubt that the Eagles took advantage.

Great prompting from guards Luke King and Joe Wildman was also helping as the backcourt duo looked in sync and tandem and both joined the scoring in this period as well as finding their bigger team-mates on the inside. Defensively the Eagles were doing a great job too as they restricted the Trafford offence throughout the first 20 minutes.

 A late 8 – 2 run up to the half time buzzer saw the home town youngsters establish a great platform and take a well deserved 41 – 26 lead in to the locker room. It seemed as though this might just be the game that finally saw the young Eagles off the mark.

However, anyone who accuses basketball of being a “you score we score” game would never been more wrong if they’d seen this game. If football can be a proverbial game of two halves then this display from both sides proved basketball is a game of momentum and can be the same. A point not lost on Coach Macleod.

“Two very different halves of basketball both offensively and defensively. First half we came out and did everything we had to planned, absolutely everything. We threw great passes inside, moved the basketball well offensively, we scored inside and had the threat from outside as well which was great.”

“The saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” never applied more in our third quarter. We stopped doing what had worked at both ends of the floor. We have to stick with what works.”

Coach Williams explained what he thought why the turnaround occurred. “We normally play a full court press for the full game but we got in to early foul trouble which made it difficult for us to do that. We had to pull back and play a half-court defence and then man-for-man inside the 3-pt line which were aren’t used to.”

“But they are a good group of lads who played a fantastic second half and completely to instructions. Our zone offence wasn’t working so we played our man-to-man offence against The Eagles D and it worked as we got more ball movement inside and made our shots.”

It was clear how accurate those assessments are when you consider the cold hard facts of the third quarter. The Eagles lost the period 25 – 11as Trafford changed their game around and produced runs throughout the third that brought them back in to the game.

One run of 15 – 2 when both Wilson and Crackett were off court having picked up their third fouls was particularly decisive and actually levelled the scores at 49-all. Crackett came back off the bench and picked up an And1 that put his side back in front but it was only 52 – 51 going in to the final ten minutes.

King and Crackett pushed the lead back to five in the early going of the final stanza but Trafford had the momentum and suddenly a 10 – 1 burst gave them their first lead of the game at 65 – 60 and it was the Eagles that had respond. Wilson finally threw off the shackles that had been applied in the second half but it was too late as Trafford’s momentum was decisive and they closed with a final 6 – 1 flourish to take a game that for 35 minutes they hadn’t looked like winning.

It was a disconsolate Coach Macleod at the end of the game. “We missed 13 free-throws which was crucial and unacceptable. Each and every training session the guys practise free-throws and make them but it just shows how hard it is too do the same during the game which is a must. In the second-half we had plenty of opportunities.”

“We ran good offences correctly and gave ourselves chances but we just couldn’t finish and must have missed at least five easy lay-ups and some weren’t even lay-ups. Some were easy shots when we caught the ball under the hoop and went up uncontested. They have to be put away at this level.”

Certainly the two halves have to be analysed individually and that’s something that Macleod was already thinking about for the coming week. “What I was pleased with was that when it was working and when we were scoring it was because we were doing the things we should be doing and what I’ve asked them to do.”

“The first priority of this Club is player development, our passing was great, shooting was good, inside we had some moves and good footwork, its clearly all there.”

Trafford Coach Williams had some encouraging words for his opposite number and opponents. “I was so impressed with the Newcastle team in the first half. They have some real good big guys and I’m sure that there’s hope for the future.”

Last word though goes to Coach Macleod. “We’ll keep searching for that win, it’s the third game we’ve lost to teams we should be beating and it isn’t going to get easier. We have to find our feet against hard, tough teams and we’re going to have to travel and take wins off people. We have to continue to work hard and believe.”

The truth was this was a game the Young Eagles were in until well in to the 3^rd quarter when a combination of foul trouble, lack of experience at this level and tiredness all accounted for a poor ending to the game that saw Northants run out strong winners in the end.

Up until that point Coach Ian Macleod and his players had every chance and should take heart from that fact but they need to learn quickly what it takes to sustain 40 minutes of basketball at this level to enable them to progress and find a much needed win.

“We really analysed the Cheshire game we talked about and really identified what we needed to work on both myself externally and the players themselves both as individuals and as a team” commented Coach Macleod. “The things we worked on for 25 – 30 minutes of this game we really improved upon and did what we set out to do. If we had finished around the hoop we could have taken a 12-point lead in to the second quarter. Things were running well, we were executing our offences well making good reads but it was just that final little finish we lacked.”

“We went from not getting opportunities to not finishing opportunities which is a step in the right direction and an encouraging sign as it would be a lot more concerning if we weren’t even giving ourselves the chance to miss.”

“Where it went wrong was silly fouls. We gave away fouls that we shouldn’t have done and some were 60 feet from our basket and we weren’t even pressing. The fouls later on really, really told as I had to rotate a lot more later on than I’d rather have done. Also rebounding, both ends of the floor we were getting out rebounded by much smaller players and a lot less aggressive than us.”

In the opening quarter the Eagles went 3 – 0 down before Luke King got them on the board with a jumper from just inside the key. Northants hit back immediately until Marshall Patterson was fouled and hit two from the line to make it 6 – 4. Point guard Joe Wildman and  centre Chris Burnard kept the Eagles in the game although Northants stretched the lead to 13 – 8.

Eagles came back with Rob Bolt notching his first point in Eagles colours from the line and then Burnard scored inside again although he missed the and1 his bucket cut the deficit to 13 – 11 after the first ten minutes.

In to the second and the Eagles strong finish was continued as Burnard and then Darren Crane scored to give them their first lead at 15 – 13. Then, after the home side regained the lead, Burnard with 5 and Jack Wilson’s first basket of the game put Newcastle up at 22 – 17.

Wilson with 4/4 from the line and Crane with another deuce had the visitors up by six at 28 – 22 before The Thunder came roaring back to score the last 8-points of the half and take a two-point advantage in to the locker room at 30 – 28.

Wilson levelled the game with the first score of the second half but then the Eagles’ lost Crane who fouled out and big “man” Burnard who had a fine first half also got in to foul trouble and had to sit out. Northants took their chance and started scoring  inside.

At 34 – 30 Brad Hadfield joined the scoring cutting the gap to two but Northants were starting to look ominous and although Wilson got them back to 38 – 34 this was as good as it was going to get for Newcastle. A 9 – 2 run where Wildman was Eagles scorer saw the home side open an 11-point gap at 47 – 36.

Eagles responded with Wilson scoring inside and then King hitting from beyond the arc to close within six but Northants closed the period with a 3 – 0 run to go 50 – 41 in front with ten minutes to play. This was when the wheels really came off and Northants hammered home their superiority.

The 3 – 0 run extended to 15 unanswered points and at 62 – 41 the game was done. Bolt with two and then triples from Wildman and King again briefly raised the Eagles again as they narrowed the difference with an 8 – 3 run. However, the home side had another answer prepared and reeled off another 11-pts with out reply to lead 76 – 49.

Wilson ended this run with one from the line but despite him scoring another basket the hosts ended the game with a final 9 – 2 flourish to leave the final margin of 85 – 52 a convincing one in the end.

Whilst there’s no doubting that the Young Eagles have some great talent in their ranks they all need to find their feet quickly and come together as a team if they are to make their mark in the Premier conference. Jack Wilson again led Eagles scorers and there was an encouraging first half performance from Chris Burnard. However, they all with one or two others, got in to foul trouble and this led to Northants being able to pull away.

Coach Macleod summed up by saying “the biggest plus point was the play of Chris Burnard who is a new player this season and helped us out a lot using all of his 6’5” to get rebounds, blocks and did a lot of dirty work. He was excellent for someone with not a lot of experience. Defensively our guards were excellent but once our most aggressive players like Chris, Darren Crane and Jack Wilson got in to foul trouble and when that happened it negated our inside game and although our outside game was working we needed more inside.”

The young Eagles next play this coming Saturday as they open their home campaign against Trafford at TyneMet College with the tip-off being at 2:30pm. This would be a great way for Eagles fans to start their weekend’s basketball viewing and the perfect appetiser to the main course when the Seniors take on Sheffield at The Arena the same night.

Looking forward to that game Coach Macleod concluded “It’s an awareness thing and we must switch on better and make better reads on defence in particular. We’ve got two training sessions ahead and we must use them to address things we know we should be doing better. Collectively we’ve identified the problems and we’ll work on them to take things forward again in to the Trafford game.”

The Under-16’s need a boost and extra support could well provide it so, why not get a long, lend your support and see some quality junior basketball and who knows future senior Eagles in action.

Cheshire Jets   (27, 13, 21, 13)      74 : 33       Newcastle Eagles (5, 12, 10, 6)

Last season the bulk of this squad played at Under-15 level in the Conference and made the play-offs only going out to Milton Keynes in a heart breaking two-point loss after finishing second in the Conference. Having had such a successful season the decision was taken to move the Under-16’s to the highest level and this season they will play in the Premier League North.

And after having to have their scheduled opening games cancelled The Young Eagles travelled to Ellesmere Port to make their seasonal debut and bow in the higher league and what a baptism of fire it was. The Jets certainly flew out all guns a-blazing and The Eagles wings were clipped in what was a very disappointing loss and start to the campaign.

Coach Ian Macleod reflected on the game, “It was a chance to get new players in and give them some experience of National League basketball. It was always going to be a tough transition from being not part of a programme to a premier standard. But on a positive note they didn’t perform any worse than the players that had been there.”

“We didn’t really execute what we planned to do. We never made any in-game adjustments and didn’t stick to our tasks. When something did work we didn’t go with it and we needed to do that. Offensively we lacked discipline and there are some issues to address there. People need to learn their roles in the team, what is asked of them and learn their positions within the team whether that be scoring points, taking rebounds or just working hard.”

Things started well with Jack Wilson winning the tip, Luke King hitting Darren Crane on the run with a great assist and Crane finishing strong inside to put the Eagles in front and register the first points of the season. But, that was as good as it got for the youngsters.

They couldn’t break down Jets tough and tight 2-3 zone and Jets turned Eagles turnovers and misses in to points of their own and within a heartbeat were suddenly 15 – 2 up. Wilson stopped the run with 1 from 2 from the line after being fouled as he drove to the basket.

However, it was temporary respite and although he did score again in the quarter Cheshire netted a further 12-points and led 27 – 5 after the first ten minutes with the Eagles showing plenty of spirit but not enough know-how to break them down or tough enough defence to stop them.

“We need to learn from the tough zone Cheshire showed us. There are a couple of ways to do this we need to rotate the ball better, penetrate the zone and then kick the ball back out and we need to knock down our outside shots. We are a good shooting team but we need to acknowledge when to shoot and what shots we need to take.”

The second quarter saw Newcastle find their feet a little. After the home side stretched the lead to 31 – 6 The Eagles had their best part of the game as Marshall Patterson scored inside to spark a 10 – 3 run which was completed by a good jumper from Ellory Browne to briefly raise the visitors’ hopes.

It was a brief respite though as Jets finished the half with an 8 – 1 run, Eagles solitary point coming from Liam Hampton from the line, to take a 40 – 17 advantage in to the locker room and give Macleod and his charges plenty to think about during the break.

In truth the boys hadn’t looked cohesive as a unit and several players seemed to panic when they fell behind and forgot the team ethics that Macleod preaches. They went away from their practise sets and what he’s been drilling in to them and played too much one-on-one basketball and were perhaps a little intimidated at this stage.

Only Jack Wilson with 9 of the Eagles first-half points had looked menacing for the Eagles as the guards tried to run plays but found it increasingly difficult to hit the forwards inside as the bigger men didn’t create openings or opportunities to help the team.

Wilson continued to be a threat to the Jets as the second half opened but in truth he was only a minor irritant to the more dominating home side. Eagles opened with a 6 – 4 start to the half courtesy of four more from Wilson and a Patterson deuce but Jets were soon back in the slipstream and soaring ahead again.

An 11 – 0 run ended the game as a contest and although Browne and Wilson scored again it was of little consequence to a fired-up Jets outfit who’d stretched the lead to 61 – 27 with ten minutes to play.

Macleod though was not downhearted. “We didn’t start well and that’s something we’ve got to put right. Perhaps there was a lack of focus or concentration but we must make an immediate impact in these type of games and concentrate on making a solid start and not think about the game as a whole until we are established in it.”

“We are capable of better, we know that and we are good basketball players. There’s evidence that we can work on and I’d be more disappointed if I thought we couldn’t compete at this level. We can compete at this level and we have potential and I don’t think today was a true reflection of our ability.”

“We need to learn what shots we need to take and react to those shots at both ends of the court as defensively we didn’t pull down enough rebounds. At the offensive end we just didn’t show enough strength or desire to go and get the rebound and create second chance opportunities.”

Certainly Macleod and his players have work to do but they know that and they do have a strong work ethic and a genuine commitment and passion to show their mettle and the rest of the country that theirs is a team that can earn respect in this league.

As ever, the last word went to Macleod. “It’s the start of the season and that’s one game out of the way. Hopefully this was down to a wee bit of rustiness and we can move on from here.”

NEWCASTLE SCORERS : Jack Wilson 17, Ellory Browne 6, Darren Crane 5, Marshall Patterson 4 and Liam Hampton 1.