Basketball

Two Durham League cup competitions, the Mens County Cup and the Womens Handicap Cup, reached their quarter-final stage this week.

The best of the County Cup ties gave first division Nissan a nail-biting 87-85 win over division two side Consett Steelers.

The two teams traded baskets throughout the first quarter and Steelers took the first break at 23-21. Steelers opened the second period well through Matt Patterson and Brendan McNeaney to lead 39-34 before Nissan let rip with 12 unanswered points from Ian Barrow and Bill Spragg to motor into the interval with a 46-43 buffer. The third quarter was more of the same breathtaking entertainment as Arran Hope stretched the Nissan lead, only for Patterson to cut the gap to 67-61 as the ten minute phase finished.

The last quarter was drama personified. Lee Davie and Barrow gave Nissan the better start and with two minutes left they seemed to have done enough at 85-77. McNeaney hit back on the break though and as the clock reached its final minute Nissan led 85-83. With thirty seconds to go a foul on Barrow gave him two from the line and put Nissan 87-83 up. A long inbound reached Ross Stoker and the gap was back to 87-85. And with just seconds left a last-gasp Patterson three-point effort ringed the basket and bobble away. Nissan had won.

First division Belmont Reds avoided the potential banana skin which was their junior side, third division Belmont, to win 67-45.

Reds were determined no to be upstaged and with Simon Whittaker scoring inside and Steven Graham sinking outside shots they led 15-4 at the first break. Baskets from Ian Davies and Philip Hoggarth extended Reds lead to 27-6 by the sixteenth minute before three-pointers from Mark Elderkin and Lloyd Harrison in a late Belmont rally, helped cut the gap to 29-20 as the half-time whistle blew.

The second half was more open and more entertaining. Reds countered a good start by the youngsters with a 15-5 run in the middle of the third period and with ten minutes left they had a match-winning 44-30 cushion. The final quarter was the best of the lot as the speed of the game, the points count and the foul count all began to rise. Once again Belmont started the better, before Davies, Graham and Richard Baister all combined to ease Belmont Reds into their second semi-final of the season.

Steve Whitehead Joinery and Double Glazing Middlesbrough Mavericks took their place in the semi-finals with a 84-69 derby success over neighbours Norton.

All but the last seven minutes was a close-fought, ding-dong battle between the big men from each side. Norton led 10-7 after six minutes, but an Ian Viveash three-pointer signalled Mavericks response and when the opening quarter closed it was they who had the lead at 19-18. Marek Pawlak scored half of Mavericks points in a 18-14 second quarter which gave the home side the lead at 37-32 at the interval. Thirteen minutes of the second half was more of the same cut and thrust basketball as Andy Buchanan and Pawlak took the initiative for Mavericks only for Liam O'Donohue, Tony Smelt and Sam Butterworth to bring Norton back to just 61-59 down with seven minutes to play. Suddenly Mavericks found another gear and baskets from seven different players in a 23-10 finish gave the Middlesbrough side the spoils.

Middlesbrough College Academy A won the last four of the ties, 108-89 on court, but fielded two un-qualified players and so had to concede their semi-final spot to opponents Hartlepool HQ Engineering Hornets.

Three of the four quarter-final ties of the Womens Handicap Cup were completed.

Tyneside are without doubt the best team in the womens division, but were given the almost impossible task by the handicapper of conceding a 60 points, plus two points a point, start to their guests Sunderland Nissan and it was no real surprise when Sunderland cashed in with a 164-99 win.

The only way that Tyneside could win was to chase the game from the outset. With key players absent they failed to do so and three baskets had stretched the Sunderland lead to 72 points before Tyneside troubled the scorer. With 20 minutes gone the game was effectively over at 112-32 before Tyneside finally rose to the challenge, but even a 67-26 second half was not enough to save the tie.

A much better game and a photo finish gave Tyne and Wear Juniors a 70-67 success at home to Northumbria.

Northumbria were phased by the Tyne and Wear 40 point handicap start and failed to chase the game as hard as they should have in a first quarter which they won 16-12. The second quarter was almost a repeat at 14-12 to Northumbria and when the half-time break arrived Tyne and Wear were still sitting comfortably on a 64-30 cushion.

Northumbria changed tactics and effort in the second half and finally put the brakes on the Tyne and Wear scoring and a 18-4 third quarter more reflected the difference between the teams. That pressure was even more evident in the last period as Northumbria tightened the net even more at 19-2, but despite a 37-6 second twenty minutes Tyne and Wear had done to just hold on.

University of Teesside had beaten their guests Durham Knights 66-64 in their one league fixture, so the eight-point start which Knights were given should have produced a close game, but a great performance from the visitors made a bit of a mockery of the handicap as Knights won 82-54.

Knights opened on fire thanks to Kat Abrashkina and Hatty Cooper and after dominating the first period it was Alison Turner and Harunu Kaneko at the heart of a 12-2 finish to the first half who stretched their lead to 50-24 as the half-time whistle blew.

Teesside came to life in the third quarter as Gillian McKimm took a grip on the game and the ten minute phase scored 22-10, cut the deficit to 60-46 and at last gave them some hope. Unfortunately the last break totally threw their momentum, Abrashkina, Turner and Cooper took charge again and Knights stormed home.

A trio of third division games was also completed.

Belmont made up for their County Cup loss with a 66-41 win at Houghton-le-Spring against Young Houghtonians. That win stretched Belmont's league and cup run against division three opposition to 14 games.

McManus and Paul Elderkin finished with 16 and 10 for Belmont, Belshaw and Carr got 19 and 12 apiece for Young Houghtonians.

Durham Knights are the third division form team of the moment and they netted another win, this time at 74-47 away to Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards.

A great performance by Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B saw them match guests Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors in all but the vital 'putting the ball into the basket' department and so the Willington side ran out as 64-40 winners.

Mens County Cup quarter-finals: Belmont Reds 67 Belmont 45; Consett Steelers 85 Nissan 87; Middlesbrough Mavericks 84 Norton 69.

Womens Handicap Cup quarter-finals: University of Teesside 54 Durham Knights 74; Tyneside 99 Sunderland Nissan 164; Tyne and Wear Juniors 76 Northumbria 67.

Division Three: Specsavers Wear Valley Wizards 47 Durham Knights 74; Young Houghtonians 41 Belmont 66; Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 40 Specsavers Wear Valley Warriors 64.