Steve Whitehead Joinery and Double Glazing Middlesbrough Mavericks made it three wins from three Durham League first division outings this week with a comfortable 91-60 victory in their derby with Norton at Yarm.

New signing Neil Thorne initiated a 14-2 finish to the first quarter which gave Mavericks a 20-10 lead after ten minutes. Norton came out for the second period fired up and Liam O'Donohue was at the heart of their best spell of the game which cut the deficit to just 24-23. A time-out allowed Mavericks to regained their composure and when they came back on court their 'big' three, Marek Pawlak, Paul Connery and Wayne Bailey all hit baskets in a 19-7 finish which gave them a 43-30 cushion on the half-time buzzer. Mavericks stretched that lead to 53-37 after six minutes, but once again Norton pulled back and when Paul Jenkins hit a run of points from the line the gap was down to 53-45. Any thoughts Norton might have had about a recovery were dashed as the last ten minutes started. Phil McCarthy set the ball rolling, his lead was picked up by Buchanan and Pawlak and Mavericks were out of sight at 78-51 with five minutes to play.

Five players hit double figures for Middlesbrough Mavericks; Pawlak led the way with 24, Thorne scored 16 and Bailey, Connery and Buchanan each added 13. O'Donohue and Jenkins were the pick for Norton with 22 and 15.

Nissan notched their third win in a row, albeit only just at 106-100 against University of Teesside at Middlesbrough.

A good start gave Nissan a lead which they never surrendered. Bill Spragg and Ian Barrow were at the heart of that good start and Nissan had inflated a 23-15 cushion by the tenth minute. All five players on court then hit baskets as Nissan threatened to pull away at 53-38 just two minutes before the interval, but George Kiriakou rallied his troops with a couple of three-pointers and when the break arrived the deficit was down to just 55-45. The third quarter was the best for University. David Jack and Sam Rowley supplied the ammunition and the gap was narrowed to just 80-75 as it closed. Unfortunately Jack then fouled out and Steve Johnson and Arran Hope were able to keep the students at bay.

Five players got double figures in a good Nissan team performance; Johnson (17), Barrow (15), Lee Davie (14), Hope (11) and Spragg (10). Harnish and Kiriakou led University of Teesside with 16 and 15 as jack and Rowley netted 14 and 10.

In the second division Hartlepool Hawks ND were on a mission of their own in their derby with hosts Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A. The mission was of the seek and destroy variety and they seemingly achieved all their objectives as Hydraulics were annihilated 137-66.

Hydraulics held their guests for just four minutes at 11-11. Brothers Luke and Leon Thompson then upped the tempo and six minutes later Hawks had winged into a 29-14 lead. The pattern for the rest of the game was set in the next quarter as Luke Thompson and this time Graeme Errington did most to garner the 33 points which took Hawks through to the interval out of sight at 64-28. A volley of three-point baskets from Hawks new-signing, Sven Skupin a German student, helped take Hawks into the third break with a 'ton' already bagged at 100-54.

Luke Thompson was excellent with 42 points for Hawks, as Skupin (25), Leon Thompson (23), Anthony Robinson (22) and Errington (16) all benefited from the space which Thompson senior created for them. Gary Keith and Gareth Hammond did best for Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A with 21 and 15 each.

In the same division East Durham and Houghall College A had to work much harder to beat Shildon Strollers 84-58 at Peterlee.

David Wylie initiated an excellent College finish to the first quarter which ended at 18-9 in their favour. The second quarter was relatively even as Malcolm Johnson, Mark Vickers and Andrew Bains all did well for College only to be countered by Mal Ballard and Terry Fell and a good finish to the half took Strollers into the interval just 37-25 down. Cracks began to appear in Strollers defence in the third period and this time it was Wylie and John Bergin who took advantage to take College into the third break with a safe 56-38 cushion. Once again the last quarter was relatively even although it was dominated by Vickers for College as the gap stretched to 74-50 with four minutes to go.

Vickers hit his best score of the season so far with 29 points, Bergin, Wylie and Bains gave him good support with 16, 15 and 12 points respectively. Ballard and Steve Pattison did most for Shildon Strollers with 18 and 15, whilst Fell chipped in with 10.

The battle for the end of season third division honours looks likely to be fought out between Belmont and Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors and their first clash of the season produced the best division three game of the week. Belmont had and used home advantage to net a 64-56 triumph.

With just ten minutes left and Belmont 59-38 to the good the match as a contest looked all over as Mark Elderkin, Liam Haggerty and David Waldock had dominated exchanges. They then made the mistake of relaxing. Adam Ballard, Ian Bunnett and Alan Scott combined to take the initiative for Warriors and a 18-5 final quarter almost sneaked an unlikely looking win.

Elderkin got 15 points for Belmont as Haggerty and Waldock added 12 each. Bunnett was in great form for his 24 points for Warriors whilst Scott and Ballard netted ten apiece.

East Durham and Houghall College B may not necessarily agree that the third division title is a two horse race, because they are also still unbeaten and this week they added the scalp of Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards to their trophy collection with a 107-42 win at Peterlee

Paul Cassell, Wayne Dunn and James Officer all played a leading role in taking College through to the interval with a 48-17 advantage and as the points piled up it was just a case of not if, but when would the 'ton' come up. It did so with a neat jump shot from Officer ninety seconds before the final buzzer.

Dunn, Cassell and Officer all enjoyed themselves in collecting 32, 29 and 23 points apiece as Tony Swallow added 10. Ian Hirst ploughed a lonely furrow for Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards with 23 points.

Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B brought a little cheer into the Hydraulics camp when they recorded their first win of the season at 65-61 after a tense battle with Young Houghtonians at Houghton-le-Spring.

Houghtonians did hit the first basket of the game, but then Hydraulics scored 12 points without reply and although the home side did actually take the lead at 60-59 with two and a half minutes left a 6-1 finish in which Paul MacDonald and John Hetherington scored the points gave the Hydraulics youngsters the win.

Michael Macklam had his best game of the season so far in scoring 20 points for Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B, whilst MacDonald and Hetherington netted 16 and 15. Four players hit double figures for Young Houghtonians; Carr (21), Thom (12), Redhead (11) and Ian Kitching (10).

Division One: University of Teesside 100 Nissan 106 ; Middlesbrough Mavericks 91 Norton 50.

Division Two: Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A 66 Hartlepool Hawks ND 137 ; East Durham and Houghall College A 84 Shildon Strollers 58.

Division Three: Young Houghtonians 61 Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 65 ; East Durham and Houghall College B 107 Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards 42 ; Belmont 64 Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors 56.

Womens Division: Northumbria 69 Tyne and Wear Juniors 35 ; Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 98 Durham Knights 38.