UNDERSTRENGTH Solent Stars were made to pay for lack of height and experience in a 111-62 pre-season mauling by the Thames Valley Tigers.

Only their giant former England international Panji Grainger looked comfortable in the company of Budweiser League opposition, top-scoring with 29 points.

Thames Valley quickly established a lead and consolidated it with powerful inside play and accurate outside shooting.

Solent, who trailed 51-28 at half-time, made little headway against the Tigers' formidable defence and scored only one three-pointer in the entire game courtesy of Ben Peacock.

Roared on by a 300-plus Fleming Park crowd, the Solent defence did their best to harry Thames Valley with Jason LeGoff and Chris Blunt particularly prominent. But with most of last season's senior squad missing, there was little they could do to hold back the Tigers' tide.

Stars coach Alan Cunningham will look forward to the hoped-for return of big Colin Irish, Mark Scott and Roy Lewis for Saturday's National League Division 1 opener at Coventry Crusaders (September 11, 7.30pm).

One boost last weekend was the return of Craig Metcalf, playing his first Solent match for a year just two hours after becoming a father.

Solent scorers: Panji Grainger 29, Chris Blunt 9, Jason Le Goff 7, Sharif Omar 4, James Gibbons 4, Ben Peacock 3, Khalid Missouri 2, Craig Metcalf 2, Andrew Rogers 2.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.