THIS was not supposed to happen.

The island men’s five-year winning streak came to an end at Fort Regent when they lost by just three points to a jubilant Jersey side. Guernsey started badly and were 21-9 in arrears after only half of the first quarter, but a change of personnel on court resulted in the greens turning the score round to lead 28-25 by the end of the quarter.

The second began well for the visitors with Martin Yabsley scoring two baskets to increase the lead to seven, but Michael Beausire landed badly as he went for a lay-up and was forced to take a rest after being on court only a couple of minutes.

The Guernsey team were harrying and hustling Jersey into errors, but their hard defence resulted in players in foul trouble early in the game. Yabsley and Nigel Govett found themselves on three fouls and point guard Paul van Beek on two, enforcing Simon Le Blancq to sit them on the bench at the end of the first half with Guernsey leading by a single basket.

The second half saw Jersey star Duncan Prince retaliate to a James Tracey foul and receive a technical, but the Caesareans led by 62 points to 59 at the end of the third.

The final quarter began badly for the greens with Yabsley missing the first shooting opportunity and van Beek picked up his fourth foul and it wasn’t until the third minute that Guernsey scored by which time they were down by 68 to 61.

As Guernsey tried to reduce the arrears they began to force the pass and made three turnovers in the next three offences, but fortunately Jersey made little of the chances but still led 74 to 68 when they took a time-out with four minutes to go.

With 50sec. to go, Yabsley reduced the deficit to four as Guernsey and when he also converted a jump shot it was 83-81 to Jersey.

But Jersey managed to score one free throw for a three-point lead and Yabsley’s attempted long-range three-pointer to tie the match sailed out of bounds as the whistle went.

Yabsley topped the scoring for the greens with 24 points and van Beek added 20, but 21 missed free throws did not help Guernsey’s cause. Prince was awarded MVP for his 34.