Durham League

All but one of the end of season cup finalists were in ties played at Peterlee. Teesside Huskies A suffered a bad news, good news time.

They started their trials and tribulations with a 74-64 loss to East Durham and Houghall Academy in the first semi-final of the Division One Cup at Easington District Leisure Centre. Academy are still unbeaten in the league and set up their chance of a Durham double with a good start. Inside scores from Roni Gordon and three-pointers from John Simpson gave Academy their match-winning ten point cushion by the end of the first quarter at 23-13 and ten points separated the teams at the end. The advantage had stretched to 44-29 by the interval. Huskies had the better of the second-half but only just and not enough to recover the ground lost in the first. They toughened up on defence and Tony Hanson took control under both sets of boards. A 14-4 run from the fifth to the ninth minutes of the final quarter cut the deficit from 64-48 to 68-62, but that was to be as close as Huskies got as Academy eased home.

Gordon was outstanding for Academy with 27 points, Simpson and Butler added 15 and 13. Hanson led Huskies with 19 points, John Anaderson and Usman Cmera got 16 and 10.

Teesside Huskies good news came two days later with a last gasp 75-73 success, this time over the Academy neighbours East Durham and Houghall Community College A in the semi-final of the Men's County Cup. The first-half was even. Ian Barrow and John Bergin opened in excellent form for College, but John Anderson was at his best for Huskies and when the half-time buzzer sounded the tie was evenly balanced at 39-38 to Huskies. College upped pace on the restart. All five players on court hit baskets in a 13-3 start and when the third quarter finished College led 59-49. With four minutes left College were 69-63 up and seemingly on their way to the final, when Tony Hanson, coach to the Teesside Mowhawks National League side, took the game by the scruff of the neck. He hit seven points, cutting the gap to 73-70 with 90 seconds left and then went on to win Huskies the game with four of the last five points.

Anderson was way out in front for Huskies with 30 points, James Thomson added 16, while Hanson and Tom Applegarth hit 13 each. Barrow did best for East Durham with 28 points, John Harding and Bergin finished with 13 and 10.

Second division Hartlepool Hornets A will have to wait until next week for their chance of cup glory as their County Cup semi-final with Nissan was postponed because the court was unavailable.

Nissan did not break sweat though as they demolished Norton 116-78 in the second of the Division One semi-finals. Nissan led 17-8 after six minutes thanks to points from Bill Spragg and Arran Hope. The writing was on the wall for Norton by the end of the first 20 minutes as the Washington side cruised into a 53-39 lead and any doubt about the outcome was finally extinguished when Nissan opened the second-half with a 16-3 charge for a 69-42 fourth minute cushion. Chris Maddison had the honour of bringing up the 'ton' with a three-pointer four minutes from time. Five players shared most of the Nissan points; Hope (29), Spragg (22), Maddison (19), Neil Thorne (19) and Lee Davie (17). Glen Urban did all he could against the Nissan flood with 27 points for Norton, Lee Woolams netted 16.

Trimdon Community College Association beat Spennymoor Exiles 71-63 thanks to 21 points from Wayne Oliver in the Division Three Cup semi-final. Exiles hit the first six points but when Chris Elliott and Ian Harrison got into their stride, he first-half finishing 40-30. Craig Sowerby and Steven Sanderson shared a run of nine points without reply at the start of the last quarter to cut the deficit to 60-55 before Trimdon eased into the final.

Harrison added 15 points for Trimdon, while Elliott and John Templeton chipped in with 14 each. Sanderson and Sowerby were both excellent with 22 points each for Exiles.

The second semi-final was much closer as East Durham and Houghall Community College B got the better of Young Houghtonians with a 78-72 triumph.

Houghtonians had the better of the first-half thanks to Anthony Burdis, Luke and Nathan Jenner earning a 34-27 advantage. College were much better in the second-half and as the final quarter started the sides were level at 54-54. A Paul Myers three-point basket then gave College the lead for the first time at 57-54 and three minutes later they had a match-winning 67-60 cushion. Houghtonians cut the deficit to 75-72 before Chris Harnish made the game safe for College..

David Wylie and Harnish were at their very best for East Durham with 24 and 23 points apiece, Andrew Bains collected 15. Burdis led Houghtonians effort with 30 points, Nathan Jenner hit 14, whilst Kris Nell and Philip Evans netted 10 each.

East Durham and Houghall Academy Ladies rounded off a great week for the Peterlee Community College by reaching the final of the Women's Handicap Cup with a 82-62 triumph over Newcastle College Wildcats. A 20-point handicap start and the reluctance of the Newcastle side to chase the tie from the outset gave Academy the win. They stretched the lead to 27-0 before Newcastle hit their first basket and thanks to tremendous performances from Louis Barnes, Anna Cass and Natalie McKenley they maintained that cushion throughout the game.

McKenley and Barnes led the Academy scoring with 16 points each, Cass and Lucie Hutchings added 11 and 10. Gemma McInally hit 28 points for Newcastle College, only Sally McLure joined her in double figures with 13.

With the Durham University term over, Durham Knights could not field a team and conceded to Tyneside.

Teesside League

First Division Tigers came through against the odds to eliminate Yarm Conyers 108-34 in the Cambrai Handicap Cup.

Conyers, previous finalists and winners of the competition three seasons ago, were favourites against Tigers who occupy second place in the First Division, challenging for the league title with Mavericks.

Tigers took the initiative from the start, putting pressure on Conyers who only managed a single basket in the opening quarter as the home team raced ahead with 22 points.

Conyers rallied briefly on the restart but Tigers missed easy opportunities in their anxiety to score quickly but led 53-10 at the half. Conyers hit 17 points in the third quarter, putting pressure back on Tigers in what became a keenly-contest tie with the result in the balance. In the final period Conyers failed to convert their chances as the home side kept the baskets flowing. Mark Hawkins hit a three pointer to throw Tigers calculations into disarray but a final flurry of four baskets without reply saw Tigers home by the narrowest of margins on handicap 432-408.

Lee Woolams hit 31 points with Dave Murphy adding 27 and Steve Cowell 28. Richard Rowden top scored for Conyers working hard for his 14 points. Mavericks conceded home court advantage to Thirsk Vikings and the North Yorkshire side struggled with a small bench but used their handicap allowance to the full advantage. Although they lost the game 65-45, the 20-point margin was sufficient to carry them through by 520-195 as Mavericks adopted every defensive tactic they could to stop Vikings but the experience of Moray Finch and Nigel Clack saw them trail 50-33 at half-time but ahead on handicap. Mavericks failed to close the gap and surrendered the game to Vikings.

Semi-finals: Tigers v Middlesbrough Academy, Thirsk v East Cleveland Ruins.

In the league, Mavericks hosted Darlington Devils who were at full strength, taking the game to the home side. The introduction of Marek Pawlek became the telling factor as his height and power around the boards together with Wayne Bailey and Paul Connery pushed Mavericks into a 43-33 lead at the break. Devils kept running the ball but tiredness and the home side consistent scoring brought rewards with a 84-56 win to keep them at the head of the league table.