One game too far for Eagles in Playoff final

LONG LIST OF INJURIES COSTS TYNESIDERS DEARLY ON FINAL DAY OF SEASON

- By SIMON RUSHWORTH

A PUNISHING Super League Basketball Playoff final proved a game too far for gutsy Newcastle Eagles as the curtain came down on a dramatic campaign for British basketball's most improved team.

Ultimately an unforgiving injury list cost the Tynesiders dearly on the final day of a topsy-turvy season - with a full-strength Leicester side outsmarting and outmuscling a depleted team down to the bare bones.

Riders’ duo Zach Jackson and Charles Thompson paced a ruthless performance from Rob Paternostro's dominant side.

And after a slow start Newcastle could do little to prevent a Leicester procession on a night when almost nothing went right for Marc Steutel’s beaten but unbowed players.

In the three previous Playoff finals between two bitter foes, Leicester had won two with the Riders claiming an 84-63 victory as recently as 2017.

Newcastle defeated the East Midlanders in 2012 to complete a season clean sweep but Paternostro’s men hit back the following year to level the clubs’ Playoff series at 1-1.

Overall the two sides had contested 10 major finals heading into Sunday's 02 showdown — five titles apiece underlining the storied history at the heart of British basketball's fiercest rivalry.

That enmity reached new heights in Newcastle last month when a strongarm Riders roster took full advantage of some loose officiating to take down the Eagles in front of their own fans.