SOLENT Stars player-coach Mark Scott can't wait for the day he breaks open a bottle of celebration bubbly.

Speaking after Saturday night's 91-68 National Trophy Pool B defeat by Plymouth Raiders, the man with the onerous task of rebuilding in the aftermath of the golden Alan Cunningham era admitted: "The fundamentals are killing us at the moment, but these things take time.

"The day that everything goes into sync I'm going to drink a glass of champagne. I just hope that day comes very soon."

Stars have yet to win a game this season, but there were signs in the first quarter on Saturday that they could soon reverse the trend.

With Eddie Owusu back on board from Worthing and reigning player-of-the-year Chris Harper available for the first time this season, Scott finally had a full-strength squad at his disposal.

Fast-starting American Toby Tripalin led the way as Stars opened up an early 12-7 advantage. They tried to pull further clear but were thwarted by the three-point prowess of Raiders' own US import, Todd Cetnar, who finished the night with an awesome 41 points.

Harper also had the makings of a huge score having amassed 13 points in the opening ten minutes, but Stars lost ground in the second quarter and, despite three-pointers from Scott, Tripalin and Harper, they trailed 48-42 at half-time.

The real damage was done in a woeful third quarter in which missed shots and misplaced passes cost Solent dear as they were heavily outscored 17-6.

The gap widened in the final quarter despite a handsome 10-point contribution from the hard-working Tripalin who wound up top Solent scorer with 22.

Stars barely had time to draw breath than they were heading off to the Aston Villa Leisure Centre for a titanic National Cup first round tie against Birmingham Bullets.

Predictably they found the BBL Southern Conference giants too hot to handle in a 109-61 defeat but as owner/director Bob Paulley reflected: "We played better than we did on Saturday, our attitude was good and all nine of the players that travelled got on the scoresheet."

Neither Mike Griffiths nor Alex Byrne could make the trip and Solent's mountainous task grew higher still in the closing quarter with both Scott and Harper perched precariously on four fouls.

Birmingham led the first quarter 28-12, the second 55-29 and the third 81-45.