SOLENT Stars predictably fell prey to the Brighton Bears in last night's National Cup tie at Fleming Park - but their second defeat of the weekend was far from the demolition job that might have been expected.
With 26-year-old former Bears guard Mark Jackson revelling in the challenge of facing his old club, Solent's youngsters came away with their heads held high following a 99-60 defeat by the highly-fancied Basketball League side.
"Bearing in mind we'd played the day before and hadn't won a game all season, it was a good performance and I know our coach Mark Scott will be pleased with what he saw," said Stars' director Jim Rumsey.
"A feature of the game for me was how Mark Jackson revelled in playing against his old club. He worked like a Trojan and was a real general on court. It was his best game so far."
With all but one of the Bears' nine players, Hove's Bud Johnston, having learned their trade at an American university, Solent's all-English side were expected to be steamrollered having opened their season with six straight National Trophy defeats.
But, against the odds, they led 18-16 early on with David Butterworth and Jackson scoring consecutive three-pointers to bring the score to 8-8 and then local lad Adam Willis getting the basket that gave Stars their one and only lead.
After an early Butterworth three-pointer, Solent were devoured by the hungry Bears in the second quarter, falling 42-21 down by the fifth minute and 56-32 by half-time.
Jackson's determination was the only real talking point of a low-key third quarter, which ended with Brighton 80-43 ahead.
But the home side picked their game up markedly in the closing phase and out-scored their lofty opponents 17-10 in the first seven minutes with Anthony Rutter's lay-up followed by a quick scoring spurt from Alan McDonald, who plundered two three pointers and two free throws inside a minute.
Brighton pulled away again with a late rally and it was a sign of their strength in depth that all nine Bears got on the scoresheet, led by Tennessee's Rico Alderson with 15 points.
Solent Stars scorers: Adam Willis 12, Alan McDonald 12, David Butterworth 9, Mark Jackson 8, Anthony Rutter 5, Jon Neale 5, Trevor Donaldson 5, Chris Glover 4.
Solent Stars suffered a disappointing 86-65 loss to NW London on Saturday.
Trailing by just eight points with less than 20 seconds remaining in the first half of this away National Trophy Pool C match, Solent Stars had a golden opportunity to narrow the difference with a three on one break. However, Chris St Omer's pass to David Butterworth went out of bounds.
NW London scored from the ensuing possession plus another point from a needless foul, to take an 11-point advantage (48-37) at the midway point.
Just prior to that, London had scored from a break when Alan McDonald had a third shot in the half blocked by the NW London defenders, from which they had made a fast break up court to add two more points.
In the first quarter Solent had kept in touch until the last minute when NW London scored five quick points.
Neither team reached the team foul situation in the first quarter, which may have had something to do with the late arrival of one of the referees for this game which had been put forward two hours at late notice.
However, NW London were able to gain the upper hand through three successful three-pointers to Solent's one through McDonald.
The home team were also aided in their task by some atrocious ball handling and turnovers by the Solent players when under pressure.
Scott berated his squad at half-time for lack of intensity in their play and a failure to maintain discipline in their offensive moves.
For the opening period of the second half it looked as if the coach's words had an effect as Solent forced two turnovers while scoring three times themselves.
The NW London team were quick to call a time-out and Solent's momentum was broken.
Both sides were only able to muster 13 points each in a third quarter that lacked any quality basketball.
To his credit, coach Scott kept up his encouraging comments to the team throughout the second half, although he must have been bitterly disappointed with the efforts of the team on court.
Once more Solent ran up a large foul tally (24 to London's 15) as they grew more desperate in their play.
NW London's lead was never under threat from the early stages of the game and in the last quarter Solent only scored one basket inside the defence, relying more on speculative three-point attempts only three of which were successful.
Solent Stars scorers: David Butterwoth 13 Alan McDonald 12 Mark Jackson 10 Adam Willis 10 Chris Glover 6 Chris St Omer 6 Simon Morton 3 Trevor Donaldson 3 Ollie Marsh 2.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article