BASKETBALL: An improving Burnley travelled to the middle of Manchester to play the students of UMIST and returned with a hard-fought 10-point win.

The home team, who were comprised of virtually all Greek and American players, have had a poor start to their Manchester Premier League season, but had shown signs lately of recovery, winning their last two games.

As usual, Burnley got off to their good start with a fast moving offence with Tom McEvoy and John Parkinson scoring from around the hoop and from long range. UMIST meanwhile, while struggling to find any consistency, were battling hard and scoring at the second and third attempt.

Burnley managed to pull out a 10-point lead at one stage, but at half time the lead was trimmed back with Burnley 32-35 in front, despite some excellent slashing drives to the basket from McEvoy. Coach Parkinson reverted to the starting five for the start of the second half and it paid off as defence tightened up, with Tim Redfearn, working on chasing down the guards of UMIST, and Robinson closing down the students' big guys.

Meanwhile, Parkinson continued with his best shooting game for a while, and Thompson got his baseline jumper going after an absence of several games.

Long-distance traveller Chris Moriarty, who comes to play from his home in Sheffield, pulled some excellent defensive and offensive rebounds, although his shooting touch around the ring still shows signs of rust.

Burnley pulled out another double digit lead which they retained until the end despite late pressure from the students.

Scorers: John Parkinson 26, Michael Thompson 13, Nigel Robinson 12, Tom McEvoy 11, Tim Redfearn 7, Chris Moriarty 4, Marc Crockford 2

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.