ALAN Cunningham, Panji Grainger and Colin Irish deserved so much better.

Wembley Arena was the perfect stage for three of the true giants of English basketball to play out their swan-songs, yet they went with a whimper instead of a roar on an ill-fated afternoon for Solent Stars.

It was a choker to see man-mountain Irish top-score with a titanic 27 points and yet still finish a loser in this National Basketball League Division 1 play-off final.

A pity, too, to witness superhuman player-coach Cunningham - a man who celebrated seven back-to-back Wembley Championship wins during the 1980s and 90s - reduced to playing second fiddle to the treble-winning Teesside Mohawks on his last appearance at the place he calls "home."

But the saddest sight of all was that of 25-year-old former England international Grainger being wheeled away in agony with suspected cruciate knee ligament damage in his farewell game for Solent.

The Zambian-born rebound king was stretchered off after falling awkwardly with less than two second-half minutes gone - and with him went Solent's hopes of stopping Teesside adding yet more silverware to their league and National Trophy titles.

When the injury curse struck Eastleigh-based Solent trailed by three points having dug themselves out of a first-half hole to claw back to 32-29. Irish had started like an express train, weighing in with nine points in the first four minutes as Solent opened a 13-7 lead. But a five-minute barren spell allowed Teesside to turn the tables and forge nine points ahead, 30-21, before they, too, hit a lean patch.

Grainger's exit provoked a typically determined response from Cunningham - but at the expense of doubling his foul count to four.

Solent badly needed a hero, but the big Wembley occasion got the better of many in dark blue, most notably player-of-the-season Chris Harper who took until the sixth minute of the second-half to nail his first field basket.

With most valuable player EJ Harrison and Ralph Bucci outstanding, Teesside mercilessly turned the screw in the closing stages. Their speed on the break was too hot for Solent to handle and, to quote Cunningham: "In defence, they swarmed round us like flies to manure."

By the time the big American fouled out on 11 points and 11 rebounds, the writing was well and truly on the wall. The fading Stars were 74-61 adrift with little more than three minutes remaining.

Sensing all was lost, Cunningham summoned Irish, Mark Scott and Harper to the bench and played out the dying seconds with Solent's younger generation on whom the club's future now depends.

Solent scorers: Colin Irish 27, Alan Cunningham 11, Mark Scott 7, Chris Harper 6, Toby Tripalin 6, Panji Grainger 2, Mike Griffiths 2, Eddie Owusu 2.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.