WEYMOUTH BANDITS 48

BOURNEMOUTH BEARS 79

THE Bandits felt the full force of league leaders Bournemouth Bears in their first home game at Budmouth College.

The opening quarter saw the hosts start slowly out the blocks, having seven straight points scored on them by the tough opposition.

Vitoldas Balciunas opened the scoring for the Bandits, but sadly couldn’t fire up the attack as much as needed and, after a flurry of baskets, the Bandits ended the quarter trailing the Bears 16-5.

The second quarter was much more intense than the first with both teams ramping up the pressure on both the defensive and offensive ends of the court.

With multiple baskets, from both Craig Sorrell and Jim De Bertrand, helped the Bandits go on to score 14 for the quarter.

However, the Bears also managed to put in an impressive period for offensive, meaning that once again the quarter ended for the Bandits trailing the Bears 40-20.

After the interval, the Bandits started the struggle of trying to gain some ground on the Bears.

The offensive pressure was stepped up a notch resulting in a period that saw the majority of the Bandits’ points come from the free throw line.

The Bandits ended the quarter having scored 11 points, but the Bears traded point for point and were still in command 53-41.

The fourth quarter saw the Bandits struggle to stop the attacking Bears allowing them to go on runs of scoring consecutive baskets. With this tempo and the lead they had already created, the Bandits ran out of time.

Coach Alex Fuhrmann said: “I thought we played very well, considering we are facing such an impressive side in the Bears.

“We had a plan to push them towards the basket and force them to win from the free throw line.

“It’s still not a victory, but switching from a 50-point defeat to a 30-point loss, shows in only a couple of weeks, we are a better team.”

Bandits: Jim De Bertrand 8, Giles Heaman 8, Max Gilmartin 6, Craig Sorrell 6, Chris Canham 6, Vitoldas Balciunas 5, Sam Brown 3, Richard Camp 2, Carl Carter 2, Josh Turner 2.