Report: Bristol Flyers 66-106 Newcastle Eagles

Though Flyers were led by a spirited Greg Streete with 17 points, Eagles came to the SGS WISE Arena and took the W, blowing the Flyers out 66-106.

The Flyers entered the contest with three of their regular starters, Cardell McFalrand, Tyrone Lee and Doug Mclaughlin-Williams missing through injury. Flyers' short line-up struggled to deal with Eagles bigs, as the home team were punished early inside.

The visitors raced out to a ten point first quarter lead and coach K called for time to break Eagles' momentum. The time-out had little effect, as Eagles continued to score the ball at will on the inside, though Flyers tried to counter from long range, with three straight three-pointers keeping the home team in the game.

The small success from the outside drew out Eagles defence and allowed Flyers to operate inside with Daniel Edozie scoring four quick points in the post. Despite the short flurry of offence, Bristol had allowed Newcastle to shoot 72% from the field. Flyers found themselves trailing 17-36 at the end of the opening quarter.

Flyers struggled to get into their offensive sets and Eagles picked off pass after pass. Bristol started to pile up turnovers and Newcastle pushed the break, scoring fastbreak layups on multiple possessions. Mathias Seilund stopped the bleeding with five straight points; a three-pointer from the wing and two points from the foul line.

These heroics would not be enough to close the gap. Flyers were down by 23 points mid-way through the second quarter, with no sign of turning things around. As Bristol's offence struggled, their defence became lackadaisical; going under screens thus allowing open looks for the Newcastle guards, not closing out on shooters and failing to rotate. Eagles led 34-54 at the break.

Newcastle came out of the gate in the third quarter looking again for mismatches inside. Eagles' dominance inside drew Flyers' defence in to help and double team. This allowed Eagles to move the ball swiftly to the perimeter with the view to open the game up even further.

As Eagles' offence fired on all cylinders, Flyers were faultering. One pass was picked off by Eagles' big man Scott Martin, whom scored on a breakaway slam dunk, putting the visitors up by 30 points. Bristol entered the fourth quarter and the scoreboard read 52-83.

On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, Bristol's Jake Notice commanded an applause by the home crowd for his relentless defensive effort. The crowd were then stimulated by the rugged post moves of Edozie and a swift three-pointer from Streete.

The newly found Flyers energy would not be enough to stir a comeback. Newcastle continued to bomb away from the outside, shooting an incredible 51% from three point land for the game.

In the final few minutes Flyers were unable to put together back-to-back scoring possessions. Bristol were working hard and aggressively on defence, but ultimately Newcastle were able to find open shots. The final buzzer sounded and Flyers walked off, blown out, on their home court, 66 - 106

Game report written by Luke Bennett.