SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY 62 WEYMOUTH COWBOYS 72 THIRTY-ONE points from MVP Andy Steel helped the Cowboys shoot down Southamp-ton University.

Weymouth went into the game knowing only a win would do and by drawing on their fine performance against league leaders Win-chester just a few days earlier, they produced the goods in a hard-fought contest.

The first quarter was very even with both teams sizing each other up.

However, it was the Cowboys that were looking more fluent and they were extremely unfortunate to end the period 21-19 down.

In the second, Weymouth continued to take the game to the students and by outrebounding them in both offence and defence through the likes of Sam Dodge and Eric Olsen they turned the tables to lead 39-28 by the halfway stage.

Desperate to respond, South-ampton mixed it up in the third by playing a man-to-man def-ence, which immediately paid dividends with three unanswered baskets before Giles Heaman called timeout to allow the Cowboys to regain their composure.

The call was perfectly timed with the visitors returning to the court and regaining control with more baskets and free throws from Steel to lead by three going into the last.

The students fought hard but Weymouth refused to relinquish their control in the final period with Steel, Dodge and Jack Speary all finding the basket.

Steve Howlett’s great transition play was also a feature of the period for the visitors as they eventually took the game 72-62.

Assistant coach Olson said: “It’s a fantastic result but the most positive thing for the team was that we all contributed.

“Hopefully this performance will now give us the extra motivation we need to win the rest of our games.”

Weymouth MVP: Andy Steel Cowboys: Andy Steel 31, Sam Dodge 18, Jack Speary 9, Filippo Romano 8, Giles Heaman 4, Mark Talmage 2, Eric Olson, Steve Howlett, Rob Legg.