A DISASTROUS last quarter continued Solent Stars' dismal run of results in a 101-88 National Trophy defeat by NW London.

As coach for the night, Steve Fitzsimons could only say: "We played well for 30 minutes."

In fact, Stars led for the first three quarters of the game until it all fell apart in that last quarter.

With four of the first five players all contributing points at the start of the game, Solent built up a healthy 21-10 lead by the sixth minute. By then Alan McDonald and David Butterworth had both hit three pointers and John Neale and Adam Willis gave useful scoring support.

NW London came back to just one point difference in the last minute of the quarter before Butterworth - who scored 20 first-half points - hit consecutive three-pointers to help Solent lead 29-22 at the first interval.

Mark Jackson finally got on the scoresheet in the eigth minute of the second quarter to pass his 100 points for the season by which time NW London still trailed by eight points.

Then two quick three-point strikes by Malik Jivens brought the visitors to within two points at the half-time interval (51 - 49).

Solent played confidently in the third quarter, with Jackson and Willis combining well to put points on the board. By the sixth minute Solent led 68-58 and, despite gifting NW London four quick free throws, they managed to cling onto their lead with newcomer Dominique Jones weighing in with seven points at this stage.

It all went horribly wrong in the final quarter as Solent threw away the chance of a first win of the season. Jackson had little help once McDonald was forced out of the game with a migraine and he was guilty of several losses of possession.

With Trevor Donaldson giving a nightmare shooting performance, after his success last week at Worthing, and Jones fouling out with four minutes to play, coach Fitzsimons was left tearing his hair out as Solent lamely conceded superiority and ran out of ideas themselves.

Only 12 points were added to their total in the final quarter whilst NW London ran in 29 to prove comfortable winners.

Scorers:

SOLENT: Butterworth 24, McDonald 15, Jackson 12, Neale 12 Willis 12 Jones 11 Glover 2

NW LONDON: Jack 26 Oluwagane 24 Jivens 23 Madike 15 Scott 9 Abu 2 Bitek 2 . Attendance: 188

Stars lose again in error-strewn match

Worthing Thunder were quicker at the start of Solent Stars' final National Trophy Pool C match at Fleming Park yesterday afternoon.

They quickly dispossessed Jon Neale, who was too slow to accept a pass, to open the scoring.

And Solent's frustration at being 5-0 down by the third minute showed when they had three team fouls before they opened their scoring.

Neither side was playing fluent basketball in the early stages with many errors committed.

After trailing 6-12 in the fifth minute, Solent began to find a rhythm and consecutive three pointers from Alan McDonald brought them level at 16-all, only for David Butterworth to give the ball away and gift Worthing two more points.

With a few seconds remaining, Mark Jackson penetrated the Worthing defence to score two points and also draw Worthing's only charged foul of the quarter. The subsequent successful free throw meant that Solent were one point ahead at the end of the quarter (19-18).

The second quarter was equally as error-strewn as the first. Worthing drew first blood with Gaylon Moore scoring five consecutive points before Solent came back into the game, led by Mark Jackson, who was having one of his best matches for Solent in recent times.

What could have been a comfortable half-time lead for Solent after two Mark Jackson three-point shots was nullified when they conceded possession twice in the last minute of the half and went in only one point to the better (43-42).

Solent made a poor start for the third time in the game in a spell when Alan McDonald had a period of play he will want to forget as Worthing scored the first six points of the half.

Once again Solent were in team-foul trouble early on and Worthing made ten visits to the free throw line as they gradually gained the upper hand, leading 49-58 by the sixth minute. Solent only scored one two-point field goal in the quarter.

They were able to stay in the game by landing six successful three pointers (Dominique Jones 3, Trevor Donaldson 2, Mark Jackson) that kept them just four points adrift going into the last quarter.

After opening the scoring in the final quarter, Solent then saw Worthing add eight more to their tally before hitting back with seven points of their own to trail 74-79 with four minutes remaining.

Worthing's Americans, Gaylon Moore and the free scoring Lavoris Jerry, then put their side in the driving seat by adding eight more points between them as Solent once again fell apart in the final quarter.

Solent were called for 26 fouls against a Worthing total of 14 and need to consider this since 16 of the fouls resulted in Worthing free throws and enabled the visitors to continually add to their score. Result: Solent Stars 82 - Worthing Thunder 92.

Scorers:

SOLENT: Mark Jackson 22, Dominique Jones 16, David Butterworth 13, Alan McDonald 12, Trevor Donaldson 11, Adam Willis 4, Anthony Rutter 2, Chris Glover 2.

WORTHING: Lavoris Gerry 38, Gaylon Moore 21, Marvin Addy 13, Damion Harris 11, Rani Malik 5, Phil Waghorn 4. Attendance 122