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Match report by Jed Forson and photography by Nathan Harper

A late fourth-quarter comeback wasn’t enough for the Gladiators as the Eagles came out on top.

The Gladiators fell to a 2-2 in the SLB trophy as Newcastle Eagles came away from Playsport as the victors despite a late rally by the Gladiators.

Gladiators entered tonight off the back of a disappointing defeat in Germany midweek and were looking for revenge against a Newcastle side who handed them their first domestic defeat of the season.

Patrick Whelan and Kyle Jimenez were out through injury while Fahro Alilhodzic and Fraser Malcolm moved to the bench as Princeton Onwas and Theo Hughes joined Isaiah Hill, Fraser Malcolm and Tanner Stuckman in the starting lineup.

Defence was the motto for both sides as the much-anticipated grudge match lived up to the billing with both teams playing physical defence and forcing one another into contested shots, late into the shot clock.

Even the two coaches seemed to bring that mentality on the sidelines, with both being highly animated and vocal to the referees.

Both offences shot under 40% from the field and scored just 25 points combined.

In the second quarter, the Gladiators offence continued to struggle while Newcastle caught fire; they began forcing turnovers and were able to get easy points in transition to get their rhythm. After this, they began hitting perimeter shots and quickly amassed a 16-point lead at one point.

Into the second half, the Gladiators came out with a vengeance and clawed back the lead. They held the Eagles to just 12 points- the same as the first quarter- and after scoring just 26 points in the first half, they scored 21 in the third quarter alone.

It was a tight low-scoring game heading into the fourth, however, the Gladiators offence struggled to begin the quarter scoring just two points with 4 minutes to go in the game.

The Eagles were able to build a 17-point lead and despite a late rally from the Gladiators, some key missed free throws meant it was too little too late and Newcastle narrowly held on to keep their 100% record to start the season.

MVP for the Gladiators was Ian Dubose off the bench with nine points, four rebounds and 3 assists.

Next up for the Gladiators is a trip to Sheffield on Sunday.

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