Basketball

Willington came out strong from the tip-off, sending their intentions of a tough game to the home team, through Ben Scorers and Luke Somerville.

The Wasps could do no wrong in the first period as Davie seemed the to be the only threatening East Durham player for a long time until Barrow joined and opened the offence for Johnson. That kept the Wasp lead to a respectable 26-18. The second quarter saw the best of Barry Fenwick's offence and defense for College as their catch-up game bought a 11-2 run. College were able to steal the lead for a brief moment, only for a Smith three-pointer to take it back for Willington by half-time. Both teams came out fired up in the second half, trading baskets, with some excellent all-round team basketball. Simpson's baskets proved invaluable Collage as the game was poised on a knife edge and neither team finding a weakness. That was until an eighth minute time out seemed to give College a boost, pushing themselves into the lead with an incredible 16 point run which could not be dragged back by Willington through the fourth. East Durham kept their cool to win the game 76-68.

Top scorers: College: Davie 28, Simpson 14, Dale Burrell 14, Steve Johnson 11, Ian Barrow 10. Wasps: Ben Scorer 19, Luke Somerville 14.

Division Two

'Specsavers' Wear Valley Wolves v Durham Saints

The game started slowly for all involved as neither team could find any kind of form in the first game back after the Christmas break. It was the Saints, led by Lishman who established a first quarter lead. In the second period Lishman continued his assault on the Wolves basket and as the half came to a close, the Saints found themselves 36-18 to the good. Dawson, Attah and Wakefield still worked to close the lead down to ten points by half time only for the Wolves to struggle once more during the third quarter. Plummer kept the pressure on with a barrage of three-pointers and with less than 15 minutes remaining the game looked to be all over for Wear Valley. However, the Wolves began to find some form and for a seven minute spell with a press defence, they had been able to turn the game around. The Wolves put together an amazing 27-2 run to take eventually win the game comfortably against a tiring Durham team 68-55.

Top scorers: Wolves: Sam Attah 25, Craig Dawson 20, David Storey 12. Saints: Colin Lishman 27, Chris Plummer 13.

Middlesbrough Collage v Hartlepool 'HQ Engineering' Hornets

Middlesbrough were able to take full advantage of the Hornets five man team opening up a 28 point lead by the end of the first quarter. A barrage of three-point shots and fast break baskets from all players on court meant that Middlesbrough could benefit from Hornets small squad. With this imbalance College rotated their bench players well whilst taking a 38 point lead into the change of half. The lead meant that the game itself had become a forgone conclusion as Collage were able to rest most of their higher scorers and giving court time to the young players such as Hart and Archenoul. Leon Thompson stood out for the visitors as did Luke Thompson but for College it was another win that brought them just that bit closer to the Durham Basketball Second Division title.

Top scorers: Middlesbrough: Francis 21, Stuart McGarry 17, Michael James 16, Taner Adu 15, Hygin Aminata 15. Hornets: Leon Thompson 32, Luke Thompson 17, Graeme Errington 15.

East Durham & Houghall Comm. College 86 v 63 'Specsavers' Wear Valley Wolves

Top scorers: College: Colin Dockerell 26, Colin McEvoy 25, Mark Vickers 15 Wolves J Anderson 18, Grant Wakefield 14.

Division Three Cup

Belmont Cougars v 'Specsavers' Wear Valley Wild Dawgs

In the lowest scoring game of the season so far the Dogs came out on top of a hard fought defensive game. Nick Hobbs with good outside shooting for Belmont whilst on the other side Ballard and Anderson were the best of a good all-court offence. Wear Valley took the game through their team work and much deeper bench, taking the game 42-32.

Top scorers: Cougars: Nick Hobbs 14, Craig Stamp 10. Wear Valley: Adam Ballard 10.

Belmont Cougars v Norton

This see-saw game was played at a great pace as Lloyd Harrison's outside shots gave the Cougars an early edge. Norton brought themselves back late in the first quarter only for Smelt to lead an early second quarter charge to bring the game level for Norton. The ever lively Paul Elderkin, who scored a couple of important baskets in the last two minutes of the half retained the Cougars slight three point lead by the half. Butterworth and Smelt combined well for Norton to keep their score tiding over but the motion offence of Belmont was proving difficult to defend against allowing them to inch closer towards the victory. Belmont maintained the gap built up in the third period to eventually win 71-61.

Top scorers: Cougars: Paul Elderkin 23 Nick Hobbs 18, Lloyd Harrison 12. Norton: Sam Butterworth 20, Gareth Wood 15, Alistair Beattie 13, Tony Smelt 11.

East Durham & Houghall Comm. College v Young Houghtonians

Both teams needed a few minutes to settle into the game as neither were able to take the ascendancy. It was until the fourth minute when Cassell and Dunn's experience came to the fore to help College take a nine point lead. A strong second quarter from Houghton ending in a 8-2 point run cut the lead until College replied win a nine point run of their own with neat team work and James Officer finding form. After the half College pushed onto their biggest lead of the game only for the Houghton, once more, to make a dash to evening the scores bringing the deficit of 16 points to eight. A strong College five helped bring the edge back to East Durham as leading scorer, Officer had a good run, helping himself to another eight points before fouling out. But there was no time to take advantage of the loss as East Durham won the game 65-54.

Top scorers: College: James Officer 25, Wayne Dunne 15, Paul Cassell 12. Houghton: Robinson 16, Paul Carr 14.

Ladies Division

Tyne/Wear Titans v Nunthorpe Bruins

Before Nunthorpe went into their handicap cup game, they had a date with young Titans team which had struggled for much of the year. Again it was Loader-Young who picked up a lot of slack for the Titans as the Bruin's, Tyerman ran the show from the other side of the ball from both inside and outside of the court. Lisa Roughley contributed with some important points of her own as her Nunthorpe Bruins won 76-42.

Top scorers: Titans: Lauren Loader-Young 12. Bruins: Lisa Roughley 22, Elizabeth Pate 13, Jackie Tyerman 16.

Ladies Handicap Cup

Tyneside v Nunthorpe

The handicap stipulated that Nunthorpe would begin the game with a 40 point lead and each basket would be worth twice the normal score. So with the odds stacked against Tyneside, the home side set about righting the deficit. Even without the large lead Nunthorpe showed their hosts that they were able to compete, scoring early and keeping their offensive momentum throughout. Tyneside had a good attempt at the win, Zoe Vickers in particularly scoring freely, but the advantage was too great to inch back and Nunthorpe won the game 176-95, using their profit to good effect.

Top scorers: Tyneside: Zoe Vickers 42, J James 15, Janis Brewis 10, Sarah Bennett 10, Charis Younger 10. Nunthorpe: Rebecca Blake 16, Lisa Roughley 13, Elizabeth Pate 12, Jackie Tyerman 11, Barbara Bennett 10.