THE Durham Wildcats faced a tough return to BBL life after their two week break on Saturday, as they faced the UCP Marjon Plymouth Raiders in the cup.

Durham went into game buoyed by their recent performances against the likes of the Newcastle Eagles and Glasgow Rocks -but a disastrous start cost them dearly.

From the tip off to the first time out, everything Durham did went wrong.

Head coach Dave Elderkin said: "For two weeks we worked on a style of play that we thought would suit us, but for the first five minutes we did not stick to it.

"We didn't distribute the ball how we know we can and we haven't got the chemistry quite right yet."

Sloppy shooting and weak rebounding allowed Plymouth to go on an 11-0 run until Elderkin called a much needed time out.

The small break stopped the Raiders' run of points and they got themselves back in to the game with a 7-0 run of their own.

However Plymouth once again stepped up the pace with a flurry of baskets which saw Durham trail 15-29 at the end of the first period.

The North East side buckled down in the second period and defensively played a lot better, restricting the visitors to only 16 points for the quarter.

Half time came quickly with Durham down 27-45.

The Wildcats came out in the second half a much stronger team, battling hard in the paint for valuable defensive rebounds.

The effort was rewarded as they almost doubled their first half total - and at one stage managed to reduce the gap to the initial 11 point deficit - to take the penultimate quarter 26-23.

Durham trailed 53-68 going in to the final period and traded baskets with their coastal opposition.

It was not enough however, as the Raiders out muscled and out rebounded the Wildcats to take the game 88-74.

Elderkin said: "That team is awesome and it is tough at this stage for us to compete with them defensively.

"The responsibility for getting this team to where we believe we can be is mine, and they are all working hard.

"I'm happy with the team.

"Fred's [Hinnenkamp] shooting was great, I thought Mario [Flaherty] had a fantastic second half and Mike [Capocci] really stepped up to the plate."