Thirty-nine points from player-coach Junior Williams helped Westminster Warriors maintain their promotion charge with an 86-79 (Game Stats) home victory against Plymouth Marjon.

 

Williams added six assists, five rebounds and as many steals for the London side as they moved up to second spot.

 

Warriors led by as many as 13 in the first period following a Yannick Bulambwe basket with 4:32 on the clock, but a Matt Peard basket tied the scores with 2:47 on the clock and an Adam Hatchell trey sent Plymouth into the first break 24-21 up.

 

The home side scored the first 11 points of the second period and it took three and a half minutes for Plymouth to trouble the scorers. Warriors held a comfortable lead throughout the period and a pair of Williams free-throws sent the Londoners into the locker room 44-35 ahead.

 

A good third period saw Plymouth cut the deficit to just three at the final break and they had their final lead of the game with 6:25 on the clock after a Russell Martin basket. However, they only scored one more point during the rest of the game and Westminster wrapped things up with an 11-1 run.

 

Bullambwe added a 13 point, 13 rebound double-double for Warriors, while Ola Ogidan finished with 12 for Westminster. Adam Hatchell led Plymouth with 25 points, with Peard having ten rebounds to go with his 19 points and Martin finished on 14 points.

 

LSBU Brixton Topcats bounced back from the previous week's pair of losses with a 91-89 home victory against Birmingham A's.

 

Head Coach Andy Powlesland was a relieved man after the game:

 

"We needed this win today to boost our league position and to remind ourselves what it's like to have a good game," he said.

 

"After we thrashed Marjon midweek in the BUCS league, we felt more confident, and whilst the final score was too close for comfort, we ended up making it count and coming out on top."

 

Top scorers for Brixton were Karolis Petkus with 27 points, Tom Adorian with 18 and Armand Anebo with 16. Myles Hesson led the A's with 23 points.

 

The Topcats came out hard, with Paul Mundy-Castle and Armand Anebo scoring the opening four points of the game within the first minute, as Birmingham struggled to contain the south Londoners.

 

After finding their feet, the visiting team dropped a long three-pointer two minutes in, which Brixton's Petkus answered with one of his own. This set the tone of the game for Petkus, who had eight three-pointers in the game.

 

After letting Birmingham gain dominance at the end of the first quarter with a 22-18 lead, Brixton came back blazing, scoring 12 points in the first five minutes, playing hard defence on their opponents, keeping them away from their bucket, and limiting their scoring capacity.

 

A run of three pointers from the A's saw them gain the upper hand and despite Petkus coming back with two of his own, the visitors got the upper hand towards the end of the quarter, with a half time score of 48-45 to Birmingham.

 

The third quarter was a scrappy affair, with both teams matching each other point for point. The A's weakened under the pressure put on by Brixton, as they continually fouled the Topcats, awarding a total of 11 free-throws during the quarter. This was met with less than a 50 per cent success rate from the line and the teams went into the final break level at 68.

 

Petkus helped the Topcats' cause with another pair of threes and making one from two on the line, all within the first three minutes. Birmingham played hard, however, and finding chinks in the armour of Brixton's defence, managed to establish a four-point lead with only three minutes left of the game.

 

Petkus came to the rescue with another long bomb, immediately matched by Birmingham, followed again by Mundy-Castle to tie the score at 89 with two minutes left on the clock.

 

Closing up their defence and taking advantage of the tired and hassled Birmingham players, the Topcats stopped any more scoring from their opponents and took advantage of five free-throws awarded on Anebo. Making two of those five was enough for the Topcats, who won by two.

 

Mansfield Giants are now fourth after an 84-71 (Game Stats) victory at Team Northumbria.

 

The home team started well and a Valentin Golchev trey saw them open a 21-12 lead with six minutes gone before a pair of Dan Richards free throws cut their lead to 25-20 at the first break.

 

Giants scored the first six points of the second period to take a 26-25 lead after two minutes, and it was still a one point game at 34-33 with 2:35 on the clock.

 

Mansfield's Toby Hutton stole the ball and scored in transition to tie the score at 38 with 96 seconds of the half remaining, and neither team scored again as they went into the locker room on level terms.

 

Ian Berry drained a three to put Northumbria ahead after 45 third period seconds but Giants took control after that and a Michal Ciesla trey put them 59-49 ahead with two third period minutes remaining.

 

A 7-2 run capped by a Nils Steuber basket halved that deficit as Northumbria went into the final break 61-56 ahead, but Steuber picked up a technical after the horn and Paul Kelly drained both foul shots to put Giants ahead.

 

A trey from Dylan Gomez cut the Giants' lead to 66-62 going into the final five minutes and James Appleton made it a three-point game with 4:17 remaining.

 

That was as close as the home side got, however, and a Dan Watts trey put his side 76-69 ahead with a minute remaining before the victory was wrapped up from the foul line.

 

Steuber led Northumbria with 17, with Toby Hutton (14) and Chris Pearce (13) also contributing well. Dan Richards, Ben Coy and Cielsa all finished with 15 for Giants, with Matt Martin adding 12.