Collins Stewart 59, Newton Island Juniors 51

COLLINS STEWART returned to the top of Division One on Friday evening but were made to work hard for the two points. The Guernsey champions looked set to cruise to a comfortable victory after establishing a comprehensive first-quarter lead but the youngsters’ never-say-die attitude saw them produce a remarkable turnaround to take the lead briefly in the second period.

However, the reds always had enough in reserve to come out on top eventually and the win put them one point above title rivals La Fraternelle Rovers with the final round of matches left.

It was a blistering start by Collins Stewart. Martin Yabsley scored six of the 10 unanswered points they tallied up before the Juniors finally got on the board midway through the opening quarter thanks to Michael Beausire.

The champions continued to play well, linking up neatly in offence and, although they were guilty of not scoring the amount of points they should have done as several shots did not find the target, by the end of the first 10 minutes they were 21-7 to the good.

However, with the island’s best player having a rest on the bench, initially enforced when Yabsley could not remove a ring which had been spotted by referee Barry Robilliard, the Juniors came storming back in the second. An incredible run of 15 unanswered points was capped off by Richard Davey putting his side 22-21 ahead with four minutes of the half remaining.

Suddenly finding themselves behind, the champions came back to life and the shots that had not been dropping were now realising points. By half-time they had forged ahead once more, 31-26, and were not to be caught again.

Yabsley, Jamie Roussel, Andy Maiden and Lee Ogier all contributed valuable points in the third period as the margin was extended to eight at 44-36, but credit to Charlie Archenoul’s youngsters for their fighting spirit and they deservedly shared the spoils in the final quarter, matching Collins Stewart’s haul of 15 points.

Yabsley led the game’s individual scoring with 19 while Davey was the best of the Juniors with 15 and Beausire was the other player to reach double figures with 12.