A FIRST quarter Solent Stars lead of five points was eroded by Kingston Wildcats, who then went on to build decent advantage before a late Solent surge forced them to hang on for a 93-90 victory.

It took Mark Jackson only 70 seconds to score the six points necessary to reach his 500 for the season.

Solent opened brightly with Jackson's two three-pointers being matched by three from David Butterworth as Solent opened a 21-12 lead by the seventh minute.

Kingston made a late rally and scored six unanswered points to close the gap.

Coach Mark Scott kept faith with his starting five throughout the quarter, which included a preference for Anthony Rutter over Alan McDonald as the second guard.

The same Solent five began the second quarter but coach Scott was forced to change the line-up when Mark Vingoe reached his third foul in the second minute. Kingston were relying very heavily for their points on Wayne Henry (22 in the first half) and Solent were unable to contain him.

The Solent coaches began to ring the player changes in the second quarter but after a brief scoring burst in the middle of the quarter, in which Mark Jackson contributed six points to take Solent 41-33 ahead, they again fell away. In part this was because Howard Jackson had not fully recovered his mobility after his recent three-match absence through injury.

By the third minute of the second half, Solent were five points ahead (51-46). Then Kingston's player/coach, Solomon Ayinla, struck with ten consecutive points that put Kingston into a lead that they were never to surrender.

Four successful free throws by Howard Jackson brought Solent back to within three points of Kingston but the visitors edged further ahead with the final basket of the quarter. By then Solent had lost Trevor Donaldson, who fouled out in the ninth minute.

With just five minutes remaining in the match Solent were as good as down and out when trailing by 14 points (67-81). Then in what is becoming a trademark feature, they staged a fighting rally which brought them to within two points (81-83) in the next three minutes.

Ayinla then scored a heartbreaking three-pointer and because of Solent's foul trouble, Kingston were able to visit the free throw line eight times in the last minute and held their lead despite late three-pointers from Anthony Rutter and David Butterworth.