Durham League

Middlesbrough Mavericks notched their second Division One victory of the season with an 86-77 victory at the expense of neighbours University of Teesside.

A three-pointer from Ian Viveash opened Mavericks scoring and they never looked back as Marek Pawlak and Wayne Bailey joined him in an onslaught on the University basket which netted them a 30-13 cushion and left the students shell-shocked after only ten minutes.

The break allowed University to regroup and the rest of the contest was basket-for-basket as two evenly-matched teams fought out an open and entertaining game.

Four players hit double figures for Middlesbrough Mavericks, Viveash (25), Pawlak (19), Phil McCarthy (16) and Bailey (15). John Stonebridge top scored for the University with 29 points, Tunde Falade and Alan Moen chipped in with 15 and 11 apiece.

With four minutes left East Durham Community College A led Norton 74-65. But Glen Urban and Tony Smelt, aided to a lesser extent by Dave Murphy and Sam Butterworth, produced an explosive finish which netted Norton 17 points and left the Peterlee visitors thoroughly deflated as 82-75 losers.

Urban top scored for Norton with 27 points, Smelt added 18 while Butterworth and Murphy chipped in with 11 and 10 points apiece. Williams did all he could for East Durham with 26 points, Ian Barrow added 14.

Hartlepool Hornets A are setting the pace at the top of the Second Division and remain unbeaten following a 64-59 success at Willington.

Two of Hornets long-serving players are enjoying life in Division Two and Bruce Marshall and John Middleton finished the game with 25 and 24 points apiece. The visitors controlled the first half for leads of 20-11 after ten minutes and 37-24 by the interval and despite the fact that Willington had the better of the second half there was no way that they were going to catch Hornets. Craig Dawson did best for Willington with 22 points.

Belmont Reds kept the pressure on Hornets at the top and they beat guests Old Houghtonians 63-50. Belmont had supremacy for threequarters of the contest. Liam Heggerty, Stephen Graham and Gary Simpson gave them the edge but when Paul Carr and Ian Kitching led a Houghton revival in the third quarter the gap was down to one basket at 40-38. Reds pulled themselves together at the start of the last ten minutes and soon the game was theirs. Dave Storey led Reds scoring with 18 points, Carr was as cool as ever for his 20 for Houghtonians.

Both Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A and Durham Knights recorded their first victories of the second division season. CJ Hydraulics got the better of neighbours Peterlee Video with a 70-54 win at Hartlepool as Gary Keith showed good form for 22 points. Both Anthony Robinson and Colin Knight added 15 points for Hydraulics as only Gordon Lang and Tony Swallow with 20 and 17 each could offer any real threat.

Knights enjoyed an 81-57 home win against Shildon Strollers. The match as a contest was all over by the interval by which time the students had used their youthful exuberance to build up a 44-26 cushion. Strollers hit back in the second half, but it was too little and too late.

Gavin Hope and Stratis Comatsos were the pick for Knights with 23 and 21 points respectively whilst Mal Ballard and Steve Pattison netted 18 and 16 for Shildon Strollers.

Results: Division One: Middlesbrough Mavericks 86 University of Teesside 77 ; Norton 82 East Durham and Houghall Community College A 75 .

Division Two: Belmonts Reds 63 Old Houghtonians 50 ; Willington Parkside 59 Hartlepool Hornets A 64 ; Durham Knights 79 Shildon Strollers 51 ; Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics A 70 Peterlee Video 54 .

Division Three: East Durham and Houghall Community College B 68 Trimdon CCA 73 ; Spennymoor Exiles 75 Hartlepool Hornets B 55 ; Young Houghtonians 67 Hartlepool CJ Hydraulics B 51 ; Durham Saints 66 Teesside Huskies B 63 .

Women's Division: Tyneside 77 Newcastle College Wildcats 58 ; Whickham 31 East Durham and Houghall Academy Ladies 42