BURY Bluedevils pulled off a surprise 10-point victory at high-flying Cardinal Langley, beating the third-placed side 79-69 in the Manchester Basketball Association Premier Division.

It was only the Bury Grammar School-based outfit's second win of the season but moved them off the foot of the table, level on points with second-bottom Chorlton Jedis.

There was little hope of a shock win before the tip-off as the Bluedevils lost the reverse fixture by 30 points.

They also went into the game without player/coach Jason Knowles and lost experienced point guard Mike Nichols early in the second half with a calf injury.

But Phil Stainton stepped into the breach, moving to point guard to dictate the Bluedevils' play and rack up a match-winning 24 points, which included some stunning three pointers from deep.

Ergoli Togo broke up play in the middle of the court with some masterful defence early in the game, while Jalees Siddiq helped disrupt Cardinal Langley’s rhythm, marking their best player out of the game.

With Stainton and Siddiq scoring with some easy shots Bury finished the opening quarter with a 13-10 lead.

The second quarter saw Bury’s big men – Togo, Vitoldas Balciunas and veteran Stuart Jackson – go to work on offence. Togo and Jackson hit jump shots while the physical presence of Balciunas found the target inside.

At one point, Bury led by 10 but a late surge from the home side cut that gap to four by half time.

The Bluedevils moved back into an 11-point lead before Nichols limped off and Stainton switched to point guard.

Baskets from Chris Stainton and Balciunas stemmed another Langley fightback while Elliot Smith's aggressive defence helped Bury go into the final quarter 59-52 up.

The Bluedevils have struggled to close out games over the season, they maintained their energy and composure to keep their noses in front and ended up stretching their lead further in the final minutes of the game.