NBL1 East: Home-grown heroes Ryan Beisty and Myles Cherry lead Falcons to road win over Bears

In ending the third-placed Bears' winning sequence at four, the Falcons improved their own win-loss record to 8-4 to remain fifth behind Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (12-1), Inner West Bulls (11-2), Norths (10-3) and Sutherland (10-4).

The trip to the Bear Cave was not as pleasant for the Falcons women's team, who went down 76-69 to third-placed Norths earlier on Saturday to suffer just their second loss of the season.

The men's game was a closely fought contest for the first three quarters but the Falcons, led by Beisty and Cherry at the offensive end, took control in the fourth.

Beisty piled up 18 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots, and Cherry (18 points, seven rebounds) was an almost perfect eight of nine from the floor.

The teams were locked at 16-16 after a quarter, then Newcastle led 36-29 at half-time and 52-49 heading into the final term.

Building a match-winning 73-58 lead with less than a minute to go, the Falcons held Norths to just nine fourth-quarter points until the Bears finished with the last two baskets.

Falcons coach Peter Astley admired his team's defensive effort but singled out Matur Maluach, who made Bears sharp-shooter Brennan Rymer work overtime for his game-high 28 points on eight-of-21 shooting, and Beisty for protecting the rim.

Norths made just five three-pointers from 33 attempts (15%) and were 22 of 78 (28%) overall.

"Our overall team defence was great, holding a team that average 90 points a game to 62 on their own court," Astley said. "Matur led the way on that, doing an amazing job on their leading scorer Rymer, then our help defence met them at the hoop and Beisty led us there with four blocks. Ryan and Myles worked well together late to seal it at the offensive end, but our defence is what got us the win yet again."

Apart from his defensive performance, Maluach chipped in with 12 points and five rebounds, and import Anthony Gaines had six points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Coming off the bench to play almost 26 minutes, newcomer Reed Nottage contributed 13 points, six rebounds and three assists in his Falcons debut.

"Reed fitted in really well and provided an immediate impact, so we're looking to see how he progresses the more he trains and plays with us," Astley said.

Earlier, in the women's game, Newcastle's winning streak ended at six and Norths joined the Falcons and Sydney Comets with a 10-2 record in a three-way tie behind Manly (13-1) and BA CoE (11-2).

Battling injury and illness for several weeks, the wounded Falcons never recovered from a sluggish start and struggled through an ice-cold shooting night, making four of 17 from three-point range and 23 of 64 overall.

Leading scorer Nicole Munger was held to a season-low eight points on three-of-13 shooting and Abi Curtin (10 points, 10 rebounds) made just two of 10 from the field, as Emily Foy (22 points, seven rebounds) and Mykea Gray (21 points) led the scoring.

Norths led 16-10 at quarter-time, 34-30 at the long break, and 58-48 heading into the final period.

McLean will try to nurse his squad through training this week before a challenging road trip against Illawarra in Wollongong next Saturday night and CoE in Canberra on Sunday.

"With a depleted squad and a build-up of niggly injuries, we really struggled to get going," McLean said.

"We discussed a couple of simple things that we didn't do well and will work on being more consistent in those areas moving forward.

"The positive to take away from this is it was easily our worst performance to date, yet we weren't that far away, so we'll leave that game at the door and focus on a tough road trip next weekend."

The Falcons men also play Illawarra and CoE on the road next weekend, the NBL1 East will be in recess for the King's Birthday long weekend, then Newcastle will return home on June 17 to host Hornsby Spiders in men's and women's games.