Basketball: York Vikings in flying start (From York Press)

Basketball: York Vikings in flying start

11:15am Wednesday 10th October 2012 in Sport

YORK Vikings basketball team got off to an excellent start in their Leeds BBL first division campaign, overcoming resurgent Leeds Lithuanians after a nail-biting overtime victory at York College.

Vikings were missing two of their standout centres from the 2011/12 season in Dylan Squire and Brett McLeod, so Richard Rees and Moray Grieg stepped into the hole with James Aveyard taking the power forward role.

York started strongly, with 13 points scored with no reply after the first six minutes of the game and the first quarter finished with Vikings 25-14 in front.

Rees hit early foul trouble, forcing the Vikings to play Aveyard out of position, with Grieg and Tim Morris covering the big man role for much of the game.

Lithuanians rallied after their poor first quarter display, with a tightly fought contest ensuing over the remainder of regulation time.

New signings Matthew Dodd and Jason Milner both hit three three- pointers and a strong Vikings team all contributed to contain the counter-attack which gradually chipped away at the early lead.

At the buzzer, the teams were tied at 88-88 apiece, with both squads in foul trouble looking at the prospect of a further ten minutes to decide the game.

Rew Hymer stepped up to lead the Vikings to a strong finish with seven points in the overtime period, including a clutch three-point play which sealed the result.