Men's Trophy - club reports

Sutton Pumas caused one of the upsets of the season tonight as they took on and beat top-of-the-table Plymouth Raiders to reach the final of the prestigious National Trophy competition. In front of a large, vocal Sutton crowd the teams served up a high quality, very exciting game.

Both teams came to the game without influential players and the effects were clear in the nervous play of all of the players. The faltering start affected the scoring and with over five minutes played only nine points had been scored and Plymouth had an uneasy 0-9. Pumas finally opened their account going into the sixth minute. Having broken the ice the home side made a 13-2 run that shook the visitors and gave warning that the underdogs were not in the mood to give up the chance of reaching the clubs first major final under the Sutton banner. Plymouths’ Dean Williams closed the quarter with a long three pointer that tied the scores.

From the start of the second quarter it was clear that both teams had settled their nerves and were warming to the game. From here on in the teams served up some fantastic basketball for the 400 strong crowd. As the game opened up it became clear that the main battle was between the fluid ball movement and offensive play of Plymouth and the full-court spirited defence of the home side.

With Dean Williams and Gavin Love leading the fast breaking Raiders and the counterattacking Pumas motivated by the physical presence of big-men Roger Lloyd and Andre Bayliss the pace of the game was breathtaking. In fact the play was so entertaining it almost went unnoticed that Pumas were building a significant lead.

Taken play-by-play the teams seemed evenly matched and the players were competing for every ball but the fact was Pumas were outscoring the Raiders almost two-to-one and were on the way to a commanding 14-point first half lead. This imbalance was largely due to the shooting prowess of two English guards. Three consecutive three pointers from Pumas new signing Carl Routledge and a huge ‘buzzer beating’ three from Puma point guard Tom Hull completely altered the face of the game.

Allied with Plymouth getting most of their points ‘in-the-paint’ through the ‘post-play’ of American Terence Durham and the lay ups of Dean Williams and Gavin Love Plymouth failed to keep pace with the Pumas scoring and had, almost inadvertently, allowed the home team to build a lead that would ultimately prove decisive.

After the half time break it was more of the same from Pumas as they established and maintained a 16-point lead from the third to the sixth minute. With the teams entering a phase where they were effectively ‘trading’ baskets it was clear that the game would be decided by how well Pumas would cope when the inevitable Plymouth ‘run’ when, it came. As the scoring shows Plymouth surged momentarily from the seventh minute with an 2-10 burst that cut the Pumas lead to just 9 points with the score at 52-43. As the quarter closed Pumas steadied the play through a score from American Marlin Capers and another outstanding ‘buzzer beating’ three point shot from Tom Hull. These scores stopped the rot and gave Pumas a 13-point cushion going into the final session.

Pumas opened the final quarter with 6 points from Marlin Capers and another big three point shot from Tom Hull. With Plymouths’ only response a lay up from Myron Riley Pumas had their biggest lead of the night, 20 points at 65-45 - the writing was on the wall for the Raiders. However the game was not over and finally from the 4^th to the 8^th minute of the quarter Plymouth, led by their pre-eminent player on the night Dean Williams, came up with their best play of the game to blast a 0-12 run that cut the Pumas lead to just 8. However the clock was now against the visitors and when Pumas rallied through Capers and Lloyd the lead was back to 12 points and Plymouth had nothing more to give. There were no points from Plymouth in the final minute of the game and as the seconds ticked away the win was underlined by Marlin Capers - leading scorer on the night with 36 points - scoring the final 4-points of the game from the foul line.

Pumas Head Coach Adrian Jones was full of praise for both teams, “Games do not get much better than this. As underdogs and without the services Paul Mundy Castle (cup tied) we knew we had to focus on playing our game, and we did that brilliantly”. Roger Lloyd was Pumas MVP on the night. Well known to the Plymouth faithful Roger was the heart of the Pumas team on what was a night that both teams will long remember.

City of Sheffield Arrows (13, 31, 57) 74 Worthing Thunder (25, 50, 64) 78

Worthing Thunder held off a determined Arrows fight back to earn a place in the National Trophy Final by 78 – 74 in front of a large crowd at the English Institute of Sport.

It had looked a stroll for the Thunder in the first quarter as Hildreth and Johnson cut through the Arrows defence as the Thunder closed the quarter leading 13 – 25.

The introduction of Gayle and Anderson who linked well with Waite and Arnett saw a more competitive Arrows in the second quarter but the Thunder’s own Steven Gayle and Moore saw the Thunder extend their lead to 50 – 31 at the interval.

The Arrows came out on fire in the second half as Arnett, Ellmer and Waite began to make inroads into the thunder defence taking the quarter 26 – 14 to enter the final quarter only behind at 57 – 64.

The Arrows defence was now beginning to turn the screw and baskets by Ellmer, Gayle and Marsh saw the Arrows close still further at 65 – 68. The Arrows had opportunities, but failed repeatedly to convert from the foul–line while the more experienced Thunder made their shots to clinch a victory at 78 – 74.

Scorers

Worthing: Johnson 21, Gayle 19, Moore 18, Hildreth 14, Butterworth 4, Harris 2.

Arrows: Arnett 17, Ellmer 16, Waite 14, Anderson 9, Gayle 7, Richards 5, Davidson 4, Marsh 2.

London go out of the Trophy to Worthing
United faced Worthing Thunder at Brunel University on Sunday afternoon needing to win or lose by no more than 5 to qualify after beating Worthing at the reverse fixture two weeks ago.

Like the last game in Worthing London started horrendously and were trailing by 14-34 at the end of the first quarter. Turnovers and bad shots, with a distinct lack of defence enraged coaches Majewski and Schiller, not believing what they were seeing again.

The problem this time was that both N'doye and Ogunjimi were unable to perform due to injuries leaving them short on the boards and on the defensive end with Ogunjimi's usual intensity.

London trailed at the half by 38-55 not too dissimilar to the game on the South coast. Worthing's American Jamal Johnson was creating most of the offensive threats notching up 23 first half points.

The third quarter tied at 17-17 as the margin never changed with Worthing still leading 55-72.

The expected comeback nearly happened as United clawed their way back to 10 points in the fourth quarter as they continually pressed and hustled. Steve Vear and Errol Seaman did the damage inside and out and the crowd of 200 or so really started to get behind their teams.

London had the chance to bring the game closer as Rob Smith couldn't nail an open 3 point shot, and Johnson slammed home a rebound to give the Worthing team the encouragement to finish the game off.

London looked spent even though the game was still at a 10-point difference and it was left to Gaylon Moore to nail 3 consecutive free throws, as London had to foul to try and stop the games flow with only one minute to go. The game finished 78-91 to Worthing Thunder, who will join Plymouth, Sutton and Sheffield in the semi finals.

Johnson topped scored the game for Worthing with 42 points with Moore on 26. Steve Vear had 25 with Errol Seaman scoring 18 for United.

London were bitterly disappointed to lose and not progress to the semi finals, but are still in the quarter finals of the National Cup next Saturday at home to Manchester Magic at 4pm at Brunel and now have a 1-1 league record.

"Looking at the league results we believe that teams will be beating each other this season without any clear favourite, and that gives us a chance to do well, if we can get our guys working harder in the first quarter we will not have to chase games and should be better placed to win" said the coaches.

London lined up: Seaman, Vear, Mumuni, Hockey, Jacobs, Atakus, N'doye, Ogunjimi, Smith and Deppisch

Sheffield Arrows: 78 Manchester Magic: 82

After a disappointing loss on Saturday in front of their home fans, the new-look Magic team travelled at Sheffield and came away with a well-deserved win. They had finished their Saturday game against Teesside Mohawks in rousing style, before going down by 82-90. They started against the Arrows in a similar mood, defended strongly and shot well, as they raced to a 23-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A more physical Arrows unit came out for the second quarter and, helped by some casual Magic play, outscored them 21-9. Only some top-class rebounding and points from Jeff Bevington, keen to show well against his old club, kept them in the game as they trailed 32-35 at the half.

The third quarter was pretty even, with the Magic behind by the end by six points. An explosive start to the final quarter and the Arrows led by eleven. The Magic then really woke up, as, led by young Callum Jones, who had not scored a point in the first half, they hit the Arrows with a 17-4 run, which took them to a three point lead with three minutes to go. From then on, they controlled the game to the end to register a pleasing win against a team likely to be contending for the top honours in the Conference this season.

Solent Stars coach, Mark Scott, must be asking of his team, "If you can't believe in yourselves when you have established a 20 - 2 lead in the first quarter, when can you?". This was the situation in the National Trophy home game against London United when Solent played their best basketball of the season for the first six minutes of the game, to deny London any chance to shoot and at the same time were able to break away and score almost at will. The starting five of Mark Jackson, Duane Laight, Matt Story, Nick OHarabe and Matt Crawford completely outplayed the visitors, with Crawford the early pick of the scorers in his 26 first half points haul. The introduction of Peter Deppish for London gave them a chance to work their way back into the game, although they still trailed by 15 points at the end of the quarter.

London came more into the game in the second quarter as Solent committed a series of unforced errors and became even more rattled as the visitors closed the gap to six points by the ninth minute despite three point success from Matt Story and Mark Jackson at vital times. London had overcome Worthing Thunder the previous evening despite then being 20 points behind at half time. Therefore the seven point deficit must have seemed small beer to them.

So it proved in the third quarter when after a run of ten unanswered points, London took a 57 - 60 point lead in the fifth minute. Solent rallied to draw level at 65 all two minutes later, but once London got their noses in front, their confidence rose sky high as they netted a further three three pointers (in their match total of 13). Solent looked pedestrian in contrast and with the bench showing little or no encouragement, seemed to accept their fate.

The final quarter provided Solent with some respectability, but some of that was thanks to the London coach who - despite a comfortable 8 point lead - picked up a technical foul to gift points and possession to Solent. Matt Crawford, on four fouls for most of the quarter, was not able to continue his scoring spree and although Matt Story began to hit his long shots more often, Solent were unable to claw their way back into the game, even when Duane Laight's final three pointer brought Solent to within three points of the London total with less than ten seconds remaining.

For a second successive season, Solent remain winless in the National Trophy and now they must turn their attention to next Saturday's National Cup second round match against Kingston Wildcats, (Fleming Park 8pm)

SOLENT Matt Crawford 32, Matt Story 27, Mark Jackson 17 Nick OHarabe 8 Duane Laight 8 Chris Glover 2 Paul Mundy-Castle 2

LONDON Pete Deppish 30 Errol Seaman 25 Steve Ogunjimi 12 Ryan Cadogan 9 Walid Mumuni 8 Steve Vear 6 Ibrahima M'Doyle 4 Mahmut Atakus 2

Uxbridge based London United Basketball Club came out of a hectic weekend of basketball to secure top spot in the divisional pool of the National Trophy tournament for Division One teams by winning both games down on the South coast.

The weekend started with a pre season friendly against American NCAA Division One touring side Virginia Commonwealth University on Friday night at Brunel. London started fairly slowly in the game and went behind to the NCAA team from the off. London failed to execute their offensive well enough and didn’t play a high enough tempo game for the likes of the London coaches even though this was a pre season game.

London were down by 10 at the half and stepped thier game up finally in the last quarter when they brought it to only 2 points. Unfortunately again the London team failed to capitalise on a fast break and VCU punished the London side in the last minute and ended up winning by 8 points.

All in all this was seen as a good work out for the games ahead by Majewski and Schiller.

The real test started at Worthing Thunder in Worthing on Saturday night. London travelled without 4 regulars Steve Jacobs (injury), Mahmut Atakus (flu), Ryan Cadogan (work) and Rob Smith (flu).

Worthing came out on fire, with Gaylon Moore and David Butterworth scoring inside and out. London were down 33-15 at the end of the 1^st quarter and looked tired and disorganised.

The second quarter seemed to change around with London stepping up a bit and playing some good defence as Deppisch and Vear started to find there way from the 3 point arc. Worthing were kept to only 13 2^nd quarter points after a run away start. Worthing went in 46-39 up at the half.

All seemed even the second half after a close 3^rd quarter when Johnson and Moore did most of the damage for Worthing and Deppisch nailed three big 3’s for the London side. The score stayed at an 18 point spread in favour of Worthing until London came out of the blocks with great intensity in the last quarter. They hustled everything on defence as Steve Ogunjimi forced bad shots and turnovers and Ibrahim D’doye tallied 5 blocked shots. Steve Vear notched up 13 last quarter points as London took the lead for the first time in the game with under 2 minutes to go. They managed to score the last 8 points of the game as Worthing had Moore, Harris and Gayle fouled out.

A great win on the road for London as they took the game 78-84 with Deppisch scoring 28, Vear with 20 and N’doye with 12 and 19 huge rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

On Sunday London travelled down to Solent Stars for the rematch of the encounter at Brunel when London won by 5. London were still not at full strength but had Cadogan and a 50% well Atakus and Smith back.

Once again London started slowly going down by 15 in the first quarter 31-16. in a similar game to the night before London pulled it back in the second and went in at the half 7 down 50-43.

The game stayed close until Pete Deppisch came up big with some long range three’s in the third, and scored 15 3^rd quarter points. London now had the lead at 79-72 and looked good for hammering that nail in the coffin.

Solent however had other ideas and stayed close through American guard Matt Story as he took responsibility for Solent’s scoring. Big man Mat Crawford picked up his 4^th personal foul and London finally seemed to get to grips with his inside play.

London managed to just keep the lead for all of the last quarter even though Solent battled to the end. London came out victors by 4 points at 92-96, with Pete Deppisch top scoring again at 28, Errol Seaman hitting 25 (with two 3 pointers) and Steve Ogunjimi nailing 12.

London finished a hard weekend with 2 great wins, lining up a Trophy pool decider with Worthing on the 2^nd November at Brunel University. Should London win or lose by less than 6 points then they will go through as group winners to the semi finals to join Sheffield, Plymouth and Sutton.

London’s next game will be played on Saturday 25^th October against Colchester from Division 2 in the National cup. Tip off is at 3pm at Brunel University with tickets available on the door.

Plymouth Raiders saved the best until last as they pulled themselves out of trouble and took the game and the points they needed to progress into the National Trophy Semi Finals.

Reading came to the Pavilions knowing that they needed a win by more than 11 points to top the group and at times they looked good value for that as they stormed ahead from the start. Taking the game to Raiders and building a 22-14 first break lead.

Raiders responded during the second period to tie the session at 16 all and go to the half time trailing by 8.

Strong words in the dressing room brought the home side out with some determination although it was a full 4 minutes into the third before there were any points to show for it. A purple patch from Dean Williams with 9 points in the quarter enabled the Raiders to take the period 20 to 14 and trailing by just 2 points as the final session got under way.

Reading had to throw everything into a final effort to overturn the 11 point deficit they faced from that meeting at Reading and the excitement mounted as they tried desperately to shake off the defensive shackles Gary Stronach’s side had put on them. Jermaine Williams was a danger but fouled out leaving Ted Smith to keep Reading in the hunt.

Plymouth tied the game at 56 each in the 5^th minute of the quarter and the scores were level also at 59 and 67 and changed hands 8 times as time ran out with Gavin Love for Raiders piling in 11 points to send the home fans home happy after a pulsating clash which produced the best from both teams who may yet have a say in a few of the trophies this season.

Love’s 11 final quarter points made him the top scorer along with 5 assists and 4 steals while Solomon SHeard grabbed 15 boards to add to his 10 points.

For Reading Ted Smith was his usual reliable and solid self with 24 points and Jermaine Williams returned to the side with a 19 point haul.

If Ware Rebels are to capitalise upon all of the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes prior to the season starting, then the team must learn to hold on to big leads! An exasperated Coach, MARK CLARK, could only wonder exactly what happened at the end of each of the first three quarters, as the visitors to Wodson Park went on scoring runs of 10-0, 6-0, and a crushing 17-2 during those periods!

And yet it all began so brightly, with the home side rushing into an 11-0 lead after only 90 seconds, forcing Kingston to call a time out. And it wasn't only new American signing MICHAEL WILLIAMSON that was hurting Kingston, although the All-American from Oklahoma was certainly the catalyst, dishing out wonderful assists on the Ware fast break that had the Wildcats clawing for breath !

Ominously for Ware, Kingston's former BBL guard WAYNE HENRY found his three point range in the 6th minute, and from trailing 14-26, Henry inspired the first of the end-of-quarter onslaughts !

The second quarter was evenly contested, until Kingston ended the half with two huge threes, to lead 48-45.

Upon the restart, scores were traded until the sixth minute, but then the decisive burst of scoring from Kingston effectively sewed the game up. It seemed as though there was no way back for Ware, as the margin grew to TWENTY, but a spirited period of pressure defence from the Rebels could only reduce the gap to 7 points, and that was as close as it got !

Upon glancing at the statistics sheet, Coach CLARK mused : "If we hope to do well in what is going to be a very tough league, then we can't afford to throw the ball away 29 times ! I don't want to take anything away from Kingston, because they deserved their win, but we've got to learn how not to commit turnovers and how to hang onto leads !"

"Despite the defeat, REBELS' fans must have been delighted with the performance of MICHAEL WILLIAMSON ! That was our first competitive outing, with absolutely NO pre-season matches, and it'll take time for the team to gel ! But it was obvious that opponents had real problems handling Michael ......... and when the rest of the team get used to playing with him .... Watch Out !!"

London United played Solent Stars in the first game of their season in the National Trophy, a Division One only tournament at Brunel University. This was the first of the new venture into Division One standard basketball for the West London Club. With higher expectations in standards from the governing body the London team are expected to get things right off court in terms of organisation as well the coaches demands on the teams performance, and both demands seemed to come up to scratch.

Slowly a crowd built up and the music from the DJ got the atmosphere going. United in their new HOSANA team-wear sponsored kit looked every bit a Division One team with the new signings helping to add physical strength to the line up.

Solent came to London off the back of two successive defeats to Worthing Thunder (the other team in the group) the first by only 3 points and the second the night before by 21 points. London's coaches were unsure of the threat Solent posed with the two new American signings and were just focused on getting their team to perform to the levels required.

Solent's intentions were set at the very first offensive play of the game when American guard Matt Story hit a 3 pointer with his first shot. London replied through a Ryan Cadogan drive to the basket. The teams seemed to be fairly well matched although it appeared London had more physical strength in depth.

Solent worked the ball into their other American 6ft 10" Matt Crawford who was very effective around the basket.
London however continued to play within themselves and made a number of early turnovers which was soon rectified with point guard Steve Vear finding his range from the 3 point arc. London took a 22-19 lead at the end of the first quarter as the new Brunel dance team took stage at the break.

The second quarter was much the same with Solent's main offensive threat coming from the two American's whilst Cadogan and Vear did the damage for London. Vear finished the half with 5 three pointers, outscoring Solent's Story. London went in 10 points up 51-41 and the coaches Majewski and Schiller were satisfied at the start.

The game continued to stay close in the second half until London looked like pulling away once they took a 15 point lead in the third quarter until Story decided to take matters into his own hands nailing consecutive shots from the field for Solent. He single handed managed to bring Solent back into the game in the 4th quarter bringing the scores level with 5 minutes to go.

After two United time outs the ball started to go inside to Errol Seaman more and he suddenly switched on, scoring some important baskets in the paint and with Story fouling out for Solent. London managed to regain a 7-point advantage as Atakus, Cadogan, Deppisch and Seaman all scored crucial baskets.

The game closed out with London winning by 5 in a high scoring game seeing United take a win from its first outing of the new season which promises excitement.

Top scorers for London - Cadogan 26, Seaman 20, Vear 19.
Solent - Story 38, Crawford 26, O'Harabe 11.

SOLENT STARS 95 (19, 41, 69) LONDON UNITED 100 (22, 51, 78) After an opening three pointer by Matt Story in this away leg of a National Trophy tie at Brunel University, it was countryman Matt Crawford who scored the next seven points for Solent. Another three pointer for Story opened a five point gap in Solent's favour (13 - 8) by the fifth minute.

A series of successful three point shots from London United soon tipped the balance to put the home side ahead by the eight minute. Despite a late score by Mark Jackson Solent trailed by three points at the first interval.

London opened up an eight point lead early in the second quarter and Solent were soon thrown into more trouble when captain Mark Jackson had to leave the game with a leg injury. Alan Mcdonald, Anthony Rutter and Duane Laight shared the reponsibility in Jackson's absence for the rest of the game.

London were eventually brought back to just a two point lead 35 - 37 before a late rush of baskets by the home team took them to a ten point half time lead.

With Solent coach Mark Scott showing an unusual amount of sideline animation, Solent plugged away gamely in the third quarter. At first the scoring was done by Story and Crawford, who shared 18 points between them and then Nick Oharabe began to have some shooting success. A lively period for Solent saw them shade the quarter 28 - 27.

Having gained encouragement in the third period, Solent became even more enterprising and showed a spirit not seen so far in the season. With just four minutes of the game remaining, Solent levelled the scores at 87 all. They then lost a bit of their discipline as they fell seven points behind. Within a minute, however, they once again trailed by just two points (92 - 94) with both Crawford and Laight missing important free throws.

Needing a successful three point shot to level the scores, Story - marked by two defenders, attempted to pass the ball off to Duane Laight but it was stolen by the London team. A desperate foul by Solent sent London to the line for two free throws - both missed. Solent then failed to put the ball in successfully as London gratefully accepted their final two points of the game.

Scorers: Matt Story 38 Matt Crawford 28 Duane Laight 12 Nick Oharabe 11 Mark Jackson 4 Alan McDonald 2

In stark contrast to last week's high scoring start, both teams found it difficult to put points on the board in this National Trophy match played at Fleming Park. There were several personal man-to-man marking duels to entertain the crowd. Matt Story, in particular, was finding it hard to shake his marker, Danny Hildreth, and it was left to fellow-American Matt Crawford - making his debut home appearance - to score Solent's opening five points. Worthing briefly opened up a five point gap in the fourth minute, but then Solent hit back with a similar lead by the ninth minute. Two late three pointers from Worthing, including one from David Butterworth playing against his old club, gave Worthing a narrow lead at the first interval.

After trading early baskets and again going into a slender one point lead, Solent seemed to run out of ideas. This led to a series of speculative shots that were often unsuccessful and usually rebounded by the visiting team who then used possession more advantageously. Four minutes without a score saw Solent trailing 29 - 37. The 6' 10" Crawford was being used sparingly because he had picked up his third foul in the first quarter. Coach Mark scott called a seventh minute time-out and switched to a zone defence which had the effect of stopping the steady supply of Worthing points. Trailing by seven points Chris Glover missed two free throws and with Butterworth again scoring a last second three pointer, Solent had a mountain to climb.

Hopes were raised at the start of the second half when Solent outscored Worthing 14 - 5 in the opening five minutes. Mark Jackson gave a captain's lead by weighing in with 7 of the points as was supported by Crawford (4) and Story (3). However, Worthing - demonstrating that they had far more strength in depth than the home team - scored the next 12 points in two minutes to effectively kill off the game. Nick OHarabe's frustration, after a disappointing personal performance, boiled over and he left the game in the eight minute of the quarter on five fouls. Matt Story's two three pointers and two points from Chris Glover were Solent's only scores in the final five minutes of the quarter.

When Matt Crawford fouled out in the third minute the game was up for Solent who now had no height to counteract the Worthing attack which enjoyed a spell of penetrating the Solent defence almost at will, although Solent never gave up the chase. The Solent players and their coach must look to their preparation for this game to ask how the visitors were able to win so easily after last week's close encounter at Worthing.

SOLENT Matt Story 28 Mark Jackson 16 Matt Crawford 14 Nick OHarabe 7 Duane Laight 6 Chris Glover 5 Anthony Rutter 5 Tom Parker 2

WORTHING Jamal Johnson 28 Steven Gayle 22 David Butterworth 22 Gaylon Moore 18 Marvin Addy 5 James Brame 3 Sam Mead 2 Ukole Ugbana 2 Damien Harris 2

Manchester Magic: 85 Teesside Mohawks: 88

Coach Jeff Jones took his new-look Magic squad to Teesside on Sunday, hoping to upset the team who have dominated basketball at this level for some years. Last year’s winners of the Trophy competition, the Mohawks were not at their best and, without being in sparkling form themselves, the Magic ran them very close. They could have sent the game into overtime in the very last second of normal time, but just failed to do so, after a see-saw contest which had the lead change hands several times.

This year, the National Trophy is only for NBL Conference teams, which makes it very much a sudden death affair and it will not be very easy for the Magic to progress.

Jones was pleased with the way the points were spread around his players. George Parios top-scored with 19, Samit Nurijev had 17 and Jeff Bevington 14.

Next Saturday sees the second of the Trophy games, this time the Magic play Sheffield Arrows, who upset Teesside on Saturday. A win for the Magic would see them back in contention for the Trophy. Tip-off at the Amaechi Centre is at 7.30.p.m. and all are welcome.

The National Trophy game at Worthing Leisure Centre started at a tremendous pace with the teams trading baskets almost at will. By the end of the third minute, Solent went 12 - 9 ahead with a Mark Jackson three pointer. At this stage, Worthing's influential captain, Gaylon Moore, left the game with an ankle injury. Steven Gayle, last season's leading scorer for Manchester Magic, then took on the shooting mantle and his ten points in less than two minutes, saw Worthing edge into a five point lead at the end of the first quarter. Nick Oharabe, playing against his club of last season, picked up an unsportsmanlike foul as he tried to contain Gayle. Duane Laight was providing much of the inspiration for Solent's continual scoring as Solent tried not to let Worthing establish too big a lead.

Matt Crawford, Solent's new 6' 10" signing from the USA - who had only trained once with the team - had made an impact when he came on after five minutes in the first quarter and as the game progressed his rebounding and shot blocking helped Solent turn the situation around and put Worthing on the rack. With fellow American, Matt Story, scoring consistently, Solent took the game to Worthing and in an inspired last minute added seven points (Story 3, OHarabe 2, Jackson 2) to take an eight point half time lead - the biggest points difference in the game.

However, this lead was completely wiped out by the third minute of the second half, as Solent were unable to score thanks to some aggressive man-marking by the Worthing team. Solent turned the ball over several times and lost team play discipline that could have countered the Worthing tactics. Eventually, coach Mark Scott called his only time out in the game and some order was restored. Chris Glover continued to impress with his harrying tactics, but Matt Story was only able to add four points to his total in this quarter. The lead changed hands four times before the teams traded baskets to end 65 all in this quarter.

The nip-and-tuck situation continued in the last quarter. Worthing re-introduced Gaylon Moore in the third minute and his physical presence helped Worthing. Matt Story's three pointer levelled the scores at 77 all in the eighth minute of the final quarter and Duane Laight's lay-up made sure the scores were still level going into the final minute. Worthing's new American player, Jamal Johnson, scored the home team's three final points and in the last eight seconds neither Story nor Mark Jackson were able to convert three point attempts - hoping to send the game into overtime - although Jackson's cruelly rebounded off the ring.

Scorers: Matt Story 31, Duane Laight 12 Nick Oharabe 11 Matt Crawford 11 Mark Jackson 8 Anthony Rutter 4 Chris Glover 2

City of Sheffield Arrows 85 Teesside Mohawks 82 OT

The Arrows opened their season with a thrilling overtime Trophy victory over Champions the Teesside Mohawks by 85 - 82 .It was a year ago since the Arrows had ended a Teesside run of 40 consecutive Trophy victories while lightening struck again as this ambitious Club recovered from a nervous start to record this thrilling victory at their new venue of the Sheffield Institute of Sport.

The Arrows started poorly trailing 0 – 9 and 4 – 17 in the face of scoring by Marcus Knight, before Garnet Gayle & Ransom White inspired a 12 – 1 Arrows tear to end the quarter trailing only 16 – 18.

Dave Ray entered the fray for the Arrows in the second quarter and he made an instant impression with 9 points in the quarter while Adrian Anderson went even better with 10 points as the Arrows reached the interval with a narrow advantage at 42 – 40, a remarkable recovery after such a poor opening.

The Arrows began the second half strongly with David Waite making an impression with Ransom White as the Arrows closed the quarter ahead at 63 – 53, with momentum appearing to be with the Arrows.

However the Mohawks have not carried all before them in the previous 3 years without determination and Knight & Miller inspired a response that saw them outscore the Arrows 19 – 4 to lead at 71 – 67 with less than 3 minutes remaining and it looked like the Mohawks had victory in sight.

Then sensationally baskets from Gayle, Anderson & White saw the Arrows sensationally take the game into overtime with the teams locked at 73 – 73.

The teams were locked into a titanic overtime struggle, baskets by Richards & Anderson gave the Arrows the edge but Miller, Knight & Edmonson responded for Teesside. However it was to be a victory for Arrows as Danny Richards nailed down the game with 6 overtime points to send a good opening day crowd home happy as the Arrows recorded an 85 – 82 win.

Scorers; White 24, Anderson 18, Richards 11, Waite 11, Gayle 10, Ray 9, Davidson 2.