Nissan reached their second Durham cup final of the season with a 95-52 demolition job on Second Division Hartlepool Hornets A in their delayed Men's County Cup semi-final at Peterlee.

Chris Maddison opened the Nissan scoring with a pair of three-point baskets. Nissan hit an 18-2 run to leave the Hartlepool side floundering at 27-10.

To their credit, Hornets did not fold. In fact, the second quarter was Hornets best as John Middleton hit 13 points as Horents scored 22-21. Dan Farrell and Sean Ward backed Middleton with some good work inside and when half-time in the came the gap was still the same at 48-32 to Nissan.

That was it for Hornets though as the second half was one-way traffic. Nissan outscored them by two baskets to one throughout. Arran Hope and Neil Thorne set the ball rolling, Lee Davie and Bill Spragg then finished Hornets off as the gap stretched to 40 plus points.

Five players hit double figures for Nissan; Maddison (22), Davie (17), Hope (17), Thorne (14) and Spragg (11). Everyone did score for Hartlepool Hornets A, but only Middleton had the class to really challenge Nissan and he collected 18 points.

East Durham and Houghall Academy wrapped up the Division One championship with an 88-75 success at Middlesbrough against University of Teesside.

Spirits were high in the University camp for this their final league game of the season and Rob Rough and Sam Rowley shared a bright opening which saw them match Academy to trail 23-19 after ten minutes. Academy upped the pace and won the game in the second quarter. The ten minutes scored 34-20, thanks to Roni Gordon and John Simpson who combined, to give them the edge. The advantage was 57-39 at half-time and Academy were in control.

Gordon did best for Academy with 18 points, Leroy Manhertz and Simpson added 16 and 14 each. Ellis finished off his own excellent season with another 30 points, Rough also hit double figures with 18 for University of Teesside.

Norton enjoyed a 'ton up' win in beating neighbours Middlesbrough Mavericks 103-81 in their Division One derby at Stockton.

Mavericks took an 11-point lead in the first five minutes of a fiery first quarter thanks to Marek Pawlak and Ian Viveash. Paul Jenkins and Dave Murphy then combined to revive Norton and the ten minutes finished at 26-19. An amazing second quarter produced an aggregate of 60 points as Steve Butler and Glen Urban scored for Norton while Pawlak and Viveash responded for Mavericks. The half finished with Norton up 55-50. Murphy and Martin Partridge tightened Norton's defence on the restart, but it was baskets from Butler and Urban which stretched Norton's lead to 79-61 as the third quarter scored 24-11. Norton, now in charge, and despite good work from Wayne Bailey, the last ten minutes were even as Paul Jenkins brought up the 'ton' with a minute left on the clock.

Butler and Urban were Norton's match winners with 29 points apiece, Jenkins and Murphy added 21 and 11. Viveash finished as the leading Maverick with 24 points, Bailey and Pawlak scored 20 and 17.

Tyneside and South Tyneside share a court at South Shields but the former are far the stronger and they made it 15 Women's League wins on the trot with a 82-49 win.

Top of that shooting show was Sarah Hindmarch who hit seven three-point baskets in her 31 point match total. Zoe Vickers and Tasha Brown added 15 and 14 each for Tyneside. Best for South Tyneside was Kay Suddick who netted 21 of their points.

South Tyneside gained a 58-49 win over East Durham and Houghall Academy. This time points were more evenly distributed as Kay Suddick, Janice Brewis and Nicola Hughes each hit double figures with 17, 16 and 10 points respectively. The first half was even and closed at 25-23 to South Tyneside. Academy not only recovered, but led 47-44 with three minutes left, before Brewis, Hughes and Jenni Little all scored in a 14-2 finish.

Louise Barnes, Anna Cass and Natalie McKenley all managed double figures for Academy Ladies with 14, 11 and 10 points respectively.

Results - Men's County Cup, semi-final: Nissan 95, Hartlepool Hornets A 52.

League, Division One: Norton 103, Middlesbrough Mavericks 81; University of Teesside 75, East Durham and Houghall Academy 88.

Division Two: Willington Parkside 54, Old Houghtonians 68.

Division Three: Spennymoor Exiles 71, Trimdon CCA 83; Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 48, Spennymoor Exiles 46; Trimdon CCA 76, Durham Saints 71; Teesside Huskies B 68, Hartlepool Hornets B 77.

Womens Division: East Durham and Houghall Academy Ladies 49, South Tyneside 58; Tyneside 82, South Tyneside 49; Nunthorpe Boro Bruins 49, East Durham and Houghall Academy Ladies 70.

Teesside League

Thirsk Vikings struggled to overcome a lively visiting Darlington Devils in a Division One fixture. Vikings had the advantage of a big bench against Devils who travelled with the bare five players, leaving them in defensive frailty, but they put this behind them as they opened up a first quarter lead of 21-17.

Vikings stuck with it and to their credit managed to shackle the threat created by the Hope brothers, Aaron and Gavin, to lead at half-time by a single point 41-40 with Rob McBridge hitting 16 of them.

A tight third period saw only 18 points scored by both sides but the advantage was still with Vikings as they extended their lead by two points going into the final ten minutes play up 51-48. The fast breaking and outside shooting of the Hopes gave their side 20 points in the final session and although Vikings tried to contain the onslaught their young side fell at the final hurdle with two baskets from Devils in the dying seconds to clinch a win by 65-68. Aaron and Gavin Hope each finished with 24 points and Rob McBride top scored for Vikings with a season's best of 27.

In the Second Division, East Cleveland Ruins hosted Yarm Conyers and in a very even opening quarter in which Ruins relied heavily on Paul Brown's scoring they held a marginal advantage, but Conyers got going in the second period with Chris Teigh and Mark Hawkins hitting the points to put their side up at the break by 39-30.

Ruins started the second quarter with a much tougher defence and pulled back the deficit to level the scores 53-53 at the end of the third period. Ruins scraped home with the final score from Paul Brown to seal a win by a single point at 65-64. Brown's 30 points was matched by Mark Hawkins with 21 for Conyers.

Norton II, at home to a six-man Mariners team saw their opponents take a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to six points in a row from Paul Henderson. The lead was maintained in a low-scoring second session but in the third period Mariners were blown away and managed five points as Norton hit them on the break with Adrian Smell, the Bennett brothers and Mark Finmore all playing a part as the home side led 46-31. Their final quarter was more of the same with Finmore hitting 14 points and only Paul Neesam was Mariners' regular points scorer.

A game played in good spirit saw Norton run out 70-47winners as Finmore top scored for Norton on 22 points and Neesam hitting 23 for Mariners.

Ruins travelled to Norton II and found the home side in good form as they stormed into an early lead and were 49-29 ahead at half-time, Ruins closed the gap but ran out of steam in the final session, Norton winning 94-69. Chris Ellis hit 34 for Norton and Paul Brown 22 for Ruins.