Leslee J. Smith had a soft night as Bristol Flyers fell agonisingly short to Newcastle Eagles at the WISE Arena, on Friday April 28, 2017. Photo: Bristol Flyers

Finding themselves down by 33 points at one point in the first-half, an incredible second-half performance saw Flyers close the gap to Eagles to three points in this first leg, going down 94-97.

Bristol travel to Newcastle on Sunday, April 30, 2017, needing to win by four points to advance to the Semi-Finals.

The game started at such a furious pace, with both teams looking to prove they were ready for game one. Though as the contest wore on, Eagles put their stamp on the game by racking up a sizeable lead.

In Bristol's haste to get back into the game, they were shooting early in the shot clock and settling for tough shots. This reflected on the home team's shooting percentage. as they went 2-17 for the first quarter.

Towards the end of the first Newcastle looked confident and in control, 9-30

Flyers fightback

Newcastle's offensive onslaught continued into the second quarter, but although the Eagles were firmly in control, Flyers continued to battle from behind forcing the another timeout call following three straight three's from Roy Owen, Ali and Aaron Cosby and at the half time break the score was, 35-53.

The lead belonged to Eagles but Flyers had the momentum heading into the third quarter. However they found it hard to reduce the arrears and the Eagles were still in commanding control as the contest entered its final period, 56-77.

Bristol came into the fourth quarter needing to finish the game strong if they wanted to make a comeback or close the gap for the second leg and they refused to let Eagles' lead become insurmountable and after an inspired fourth quarter comeback, Flyers came within single digits in the final 90 seconds of play.

The Flyers then clawed their way back from a 33 point deficit to lose, at the buzzer, 94-97.

Smith, coming off the Bench rotation, played 16 minutes, made 5 rebounds, 1 block and scored 5 points on 2 of 7 shooting from the field. He also made 1 of 2 from the free throw line.