Newcastle Eagles fall short in European quest
- Published
Newcastle Eagles came up short in their quest for European glory as they were beaten in the final of the European North Basketball League in Bratislava.
The Eagles lost 95-82 to Romanian side CSO Voluntari in the match in the Slovakian capital.
The north-east club wanted to add a first European trophy to go with their British record of 28 domestic honours and beat Dziki Warsaw in the semi-final on Tuesday.
The final was level at half-time at 46-46 and Newcastle were also tied at 58-58 halfway through the third period, before the Romanians pulled away in the final quarter to go one better than last year.
Mike Okauru top-scored for the Eagles with 20 points, while Trey Pulliam contributed 14 and Seneca Knight 12, but it was not enough to bring the trophy home.
"I'm proud of the group throughout this campaign," head coach Marc Steutel told BBC Look North.
"There's no given, we didn't set out as favourites and we kept proving we could overcome challenges.
"I still think we've punched significantly above our weight and hopefully we've inspired some future generations of Eagles fans."