Basketball: Although only three Ipswich Basketball League fixtures were played last week there was still plenty of interest to talk about.With Copleston 1 not playing, BT Lasers took the opportunity of leap-frogging them into second place in the table but it was a close thing with Suffolk College pushing them all the way.

Although only three Ipswich Basketball League fixtures were played last week there was still plenty of interest to talk about.

With Copleston 1 not playing, BT Lasers took the opportunity of leap-frogging them into second place in the table but it was a close thing with Suffolk College pushing them all the way.

The first quarter was very even with both sides having opportunities to pull ahead but missing valuable foul shots; BT missed six while the College missed five and after ten minutes the scores were tied 20-20.

The second quarter was a

similar pattern with neither side being able to pull away. Mayouya had a good first half for the College with nine points but this was matched by Mathinos for the Lasers.

A three point advantage to Lasers at half time was still there going into the final quarter. Lasers experience finally told as three College players fouled out in the final quarter and although Randall scored 12 points to finish with a game high of 34 it was Lasers who pulled away in the last few minutes with eight unanswered points.

Gainsborough remain firmly rooted to the foot of the table although they matched Colchester Hornets for three quarters of their game only to run out of steam in the final quarter.

Gainsborough began well as Brendish, Venables and Leech combined well on offence and they won the first quarter by seven. They extended this lead to double figures by half time as Poole took over on offence in the second quarter.

Only four field goals in the third from Gainsborough allowed Hornets to narrow the gap as Lloyd had a hot spell with ten points.

For Gainsborough, Brendish had contributed 20 points in the first three quarters but when he could not find the hoop in the final quarter nobody else was able to step up on offence and with Wilkinson hitting 15 to finish with a game high 28 it was Hornets who moved up the table.

League leaders Brightlingsea travelled to Holywells and easily continued their unbeaten run in a very curious game.

Last season it was Holywells who pushed the Essex side all the way in the league but with a severely under strength team they were never a match for the

visitors this time round.

With only a small squad Holywells were soon in foul

trouble although Lister and O'Connor were putting it

together on offence to try to keep the home side in the game.

Half-time arrived with Brightlingsea enjoying a double figure lead and as the fouls mounted up in the second half it was the home side who began to lose players, so much so that by mid-way through the final quarter they did not have a sufficient number to carry on playing.

This is probably the first time this has happened in the local league and although the game had to be abandoned the result will probably stand.

Results round-up

Suffolk College 68 (Randall 34, Mayouya 11, P.Grant 6)

BT Lasers 85 (Hale 15, Garyfalos 14, Mathinos 13)

Gainsborough 56 (Brendish 20, Leech 12, Venables 9, Poole 9)

Colchester Hornets 71 (Wilkinson 28, Lloyd 23, Hicks 12)

Holywells 47 (Lister 15, O'Connor 14, Pryke 8)

Brightlingsea 87 (Williams 22, A.Ward 17, Hughes 13)

league table

P W L F A P

Brightlingsea 6 6 0 627 380 12

BT Lasers 6 5 1 503 429 10

Copleston 1 5 4 1 457 389 8

Hornets 5 2 3 409 386 4

Holywells 5 2 3 406 385 4

Holbrook 4 2 2 276 324 4

Suffolk College 4 1 3 233 310 2

Copleston 2 4 1 3 234 371 2

Mustangs 2 0 2 155 185 0

Gainsborough 5 0 5 319 418 0