Newcastle Basketball 2’s have managed to remain unbeaten in the league thus far this season, and they continued this run of form in imperious fashion against a lacklustre Hull 1’s side, winning by a margin of 107-62.
Newcastle started the first quarter brighter than their opponents, working the width of the court well whilst Hull struggled to get points on the board. Sanchez-Corella looked particularly bright, finding his range to help establish an early lead whilst pressuring Hull into making mistakes.
Hull didn’t seem able to score whatsoever in these early stages, and Newcastle soon had a 15-1 lead that was capped by an impressive dunk from Syzmanis. Curry tried to drag Hull out of their stupor with a three-pointer, but Taha capped off a lightning-fast offensive move that demonstrated Newcastle’s intensity.
The first quarter ended 31-15 to Newcastle, yet the second quarter had a somewhat scrappy start. Both teams were guilty of wayward shooting and avoidable passing errors, but Marshall came on and displayed the accuracy that Newcastle briefly missed. They kept Hull at arm’s length, and despite not putting in their best performance still finished the second quarter with a 49-36 advantage.
The third quarter saw Newcastle return to dominance, with Casado-Serra sinking a shot from range and O’Dowd making some driving runs to score and create scoring opportunities for others. Roberts impressed, sometimes dribbling like the ball was magnetically attracted to his hands, combining well with Syzmanis to add to Newcastle’s tally.
Casado-Serra was issuing instructions in English and what may have been Spanish, a tactic that, if employed to confuse the opponents, deserves some credit for ingenuity. Newcastle had a 77-48 lead by this point, and it was not a question of whether Newcastle would win, but by how many they would win by.
Estany Roura started the fourth quarter in style with a deep three-pointer, and Karatzas added to his personal tally with some composed shooting to bring Newcastle closer to the 100 point mark. It was O’Dowd that eventually breached the barrier, ensuring that the final scoreline of 107-62 was an accurate reflection of Newcastle’s supremacy and securing a result that caps a superb term for the table-topping team.