Durham League

Christmas came early for most teams, and apart from one County Cup game only a handful of sides were in action this week.

Third division Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B entertained second division guests Old Houghtonians in their delayed County Cup tie and caught them cold to take a 14-2 lead by the sixth minute. Ill timed substitutions allowed Houghtonians to catch their breath and they opened the second quarter with 14 unanswered points for a 27-21 lead. From then on Hydraulics were playing catch-up, but even a superb finish could not cut the deficit so Old Houghtonians were through to the next round of the cup as 73-61 winners.

Four players shared most of Old Houghtonians points; Simon Lloyd (23), Paul Carr (19), James Mackintosh (13) and Simon Wood (10). Anthony Robinson did best for Hartlepool CJ Hydraulcs with 24 points, Alex Whyte added 13.

There was no early break for Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B, because they had to play twice and earlier in the week they managed a 64-58 league victory at Durham over Belmont B.

Belmont made a storming start to lead 14-7 after seven minutes. A pair of Anthony Robinson three-point baskets signalled a Hydraulics revival and by half-time the Hartlepool side was ahead at 34-32. Once again Belmont started the second half better before another pair of Robinson three-pointers this time rounded off a 19-6 Hydraulics spell which put them in front at 60-55 with two minutes left.

Robinson was again the pick for CJ Hydraulics with 26 points, Paul Judkins this time added 18.

Leon Thompson with 34 points was at the heart of a comfortable 92-69 success for Hartlepool Hawks against Norton B in a league cup game at Hartlepool.

Dan Dixon and Sean Ward combined well to give Hawks the better of the first quarter at 25-19. Brothers Luke and Leon Thompson then made the running which to take Hawks into the interval with a 50-37 cushion. A good Norton restart put them up at 59-58, but Hawks had regained the lead at 69-65 before 11 points from Leon Thompson in a 17-0 'purple-patch' gave Hawks a match-winning 86-65 gap.

Durham Saints inflicted a heavy 91-49 defeat on East Durham and Houghall College in a game remarkable only for the fact that both teams played the final ten minutes with four players each.

Saints took charge from the outset to lead 17-4 by the seventh minute. A Keith Hockaday three point basket started a good run for College and with four minutes of the first half left the deficit had shrunk to 37-23. Unfortunately College could not score again before the half-time whistle blew and they trailed into the break 47-23 down. A four minute 14-0 phase early in the final quarter in which Colin Lishman and Neil Guthrie shared all of the points put Saints on the march at 77-37.

Lishman was outstanding with 39 points for Durham Saints, Neil Guthrie scored 22, whilst Martin Clark and Simon Dunlop added 12 each. Cassell and Hockaday were the pick for East Durham with 18 and 17 points each.

Mens County Cup: Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 61 Old Houghtonians 73.

League Division Three: Belmont B 58 Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 64; Young Houghtonians 90 Durham Saints 80.

Division Three Cup: East Durham and Houghall College C 49 Durham Saints 91; Hartlepool Hawks 92 Norton B 69; Specsavers Wear Valley Wolves 42 Spennymoor Exiles 48.

l With the Durham season now in its winter break, a round-up of statistics from the season so far begins with a look at the third division.

Division Three - League

P W L Pts

Hartlepool Hawks 8 7 1 22

Durham Saints 9 7 2 22

Young Houghtonians 9 6 3 19

Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 8 5 3 18

Norton B 8 5 3 18

Belmont B 8 3 5 14

Wear Valley Wolves 8 3 5 14

ED and H College C 8 1 7 10

Spennymoor Exiles 8 0 8 7

Leading individual scorers (League): Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 233, Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 216, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 153, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 135, Stephen Graham (Belmont B) 126, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 123, Craig Sowerby (Spennymoor Exiles) 121, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 116, Sean Ward (Hartlepool Hawks) 105, Phil Bailey (Durham Saints) 100.

Division Three Cup Table

P W L Pts

Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 4 3 1 10

Durham Saints 4 3 1 10

Belmont B 4 2 2 8

Wear Valley Wolves 4 2 2 8

Young Houghtonians 3 2 1 7

Hartlepool Hawks 3 2 1 7

Norton B 4 1 3 5

Spennymoor Exiles 3 1 2 5

ED and H College C 3 0 3 3

Leading individual scorers (Cup): Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 126, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 82, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 78, Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 69, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 69, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 69, Graeme Errington (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 63, Neil Guthrie (Durham Saints) 62, Chris Plummer (Durham Saints) 57, Calvin Bradley (Belmont B) 52, Sam Butterworth (Norton B) 52.

Leading points scorers (League and Cup combined): Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 342, Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 302, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 222, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 201, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 186, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 185, Craig Sowerby (Spennymoor Exiles) 166, Stephen Graham (Belmont B) 150, Graeme Errington (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 147, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks)144.

Leading Averages (League and Cup combined): Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 34.2, Sam Attah (Wear Valley Wolves) 33.6, Colin Lishman (Durham Saints) 28.7, Paul Cassell (ED and H College C) 22.2, Stephen Graham (Belmont B) 21.4, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 20.8, Sean Ward (Hartlepool Hawks) 18.0, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 16.6.

Leading Three Point Basket Scorers (League and Cup combined): Anthony Burdis (Young Houghtonians) 26, Leon Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 22, Mark Elderkin (Belmont B) 20, Bruce Marshall ((Hartlepool Hawks) 18, Stephen Graham (Belmont B) 17, Lloyd Harrison (Wear Valley Wolves) 17, Luke Thompson (Hartlepool Hawks) 17, Anthony Robinson (Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B) 13