IN THEIR first home league match of the season Solent Stars lost 89-88 to unfancied Team Bath Romans in a match that they will quickly want to forget.

Yet the start had seemed so promising for the home team who had broken the deadlock of score for score in the opening six minutes to go from 19-20 down to lead by 12 points (32-20) entering the last minute of the quarter. This spell had seen baskets from Mark Jackson (eight points) Matt Story and Nic O'Harabe. The latter had shone throughout the quarter scoring ten points, taking several rebounds and providing assists for others to score. Only Matt Crawford's several unforced errors seemed to blight the Solent progress.

Matt Story was not on court for the start of the second period and it took Solent until the third minute before they could put points on the board. Fortunately for them, Team Bath also had difficulty finding the target. Solent advanced to their biggest lead in the game - 11 points - by the eighth minute before a series of sloppy turnovers allowed Team Bath a run of points. Solent, however, had seemed to weather the storm as they came back to lead by eight at the interval (48-40).

Paul Mundy-Castle arrived during the half-time break, having been given a tour of southern England on his trip from London, courtesy of SW Trains. However, he alone could not be held responsible for the sudden deterioration in Solent's fortunes as they leaked 34 points in a ten-minute period. Several times Team Bath found themselves with three attackers against one defender as they piled on the points.

Matt Crawford, hampered by a shoulder strain, helped Solent on defence, but was guilty of missing many scoring chances. He was not alone in this as the Solent players continued to make poor shot selection.

Despite their poor form, Solent made a gritty start to the final period as they endeavoured to get back into the game. It was the scoring of Matt Story, Mark Jackson and Nick O'Harabe that finally brought Solent to within three points (82-85) with three minutes remaining.

Needless fouls by Duane Laight and Nick O'Harabe sent Bath to the free throw line to increase their lead to seven points before a final rally by Solent saw Mark Jackson (five points) and Matt Story reduced the lead to one point.

Had Matt Story not missed his second free throw 54 seconds from time, Solent would have drawn level. As it was a frantic last minute saw both teams miss chances with Alan McDonald's final attempt for Solent not finding the target.

Solent will look at the second half statistic where Bath took the rebound 25 times off their own board, while Solent could only manage to gain two rebounds of the same board to see where the game was possibly lost.

SOLENT SCORERS: Matt Story 27 Nick O'Harabe 23 Mark Jackson 18 Duane laight 12 Chris Glover 4 Matt Crawford 4

SOLENT STARS 88 (32, 48, 67).

TEAM BATH ROMANS 89 (22, 40, 74).

Attendance: 236.