WEYMOUTH BANDITS 72 EXETER NOMADS 28

WEYMOUTH Mission Fitness Bandits could not have asked for a better start to their 2014/15 season, racking up a huge score against last term’s league runners-up Exeter Nomads.

The Bandits featured a number of new members and one of those, captain Liam Wyatt, opened the scoring in what proved to be a tight first period.

Andy Steel hit a three-pointer to put the Weymouth side 13-8 up at the end of the opening quarter and the hosts built on their lead in the next.

The defence kept Exeter to just two points and went into half-time leading 29-10.

Exeter came out in the third quarter looking like a different team, knocking down jump shots and forcing the Bandits into some turnovers with their full court press defence.

Bandits’ coach Alex Fuhrmann called a time out and introduced Jake Kinder who used his pace to score six straight points.

The last quarter was simply the Craig Sorrell show as he knocked down jump shots from all over the floor, including four three-pointers.

The swarming Weymouth defence proved too much for the Nomads who could only muster three points.

“I could not have asked for a better start to the season,” said Fuhrmann. “It was an all-round team performance with balanced scoring and tough team defence.

“Nomads were league runners-up last year so this was a real statement.”

Bandits: Craig Sorrell 24pts, Jake Kinder 9, Andy Steel 8, Liam Wyatt 7, Vitoldas Balciunas 7, Carl Carter 7, Mike Willemse 4, Chris Canham 4, Joel Franks 2, Jim De Bertrand.