SOLENT Stars' junior men pulled off a tremendous display to beat arguably the nation's top side, Manchester Magic, in the semi-finals of the Sureshot Under-18 Men's Cup at Hamble Sports College.

The nailbiting 78-77 triumph books them a final showdown against Doncaster Eagles on March 5.

After a slow start, Solent gradually built up their offence through Joel Freeland and James Cooper, while Craig Teesdale offered John Titcombe some defensive help to contain Magic's star England player Ben Eaves.

With Liam Openshaw starting to control things for Solent, the home side led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter and increased that advantage to 37-27 by half-time.

With just five minutes left, Stars had built up a 19-point gap, but Manchester set up a nervy finale which brought them to within a single point of the home side.

Scorers: Freeland 33 (17 rebounds), Cooper 14, Titcombe 10 (13 rebounds), Openshaw 10, Teesdale 9, Glasspool 2.

l Solent had had a disastrous build-up to the semi-final, losing 86-52 to an energetic London PAWS Capital team in the under-18 league.

Scorers: Freeland 22, Openshaw 15, Titcombe 7, Cooper 4, Glasspool 2, Pape 2.

l WITH captain Sarah Cooper and point guard Maria Tobar both ruled out, it looked as if Solent's clash with Stockport Lapwings might be another close encounter in the National Women's League Division 1. But, having sneaked the away match by just one point, Michael Ball's team underlined their recent improvement with a runaway 81-33 home win.

Lynne Powell moved into the starting line-up and Solent waltzed into a 26-7 first-quarter lead.

The second quarter saw much of the same as Stockport struggled to break down Solent's defence, led by the superb Catherine Brownsell.

As the half ended, Powell hit a big three in transition to send Solent into a 46-13 lead.

In the third quarter, Stockport scored 11 points in four minutes, but it was only a temporary revival with Stars quickly reasserting their authority.

Solent scorers: Tarnai 19, Cloke 18, Gamman 14, Syngellakis 12, Brownsell 7, Jones 6, Powell 5.