LANCASHIRE Spinners are eligible for promotion to EBL’s Division One after defeating Loughborough 95-72, writes Allen Gunn.

It was all smiles for the Bury-based basketball club on a day they presented their Patrons Cup trophy to an approving crowd and with other results going their way, the Spinners were guaranteed promotion.

Josh Houghton continued to shoot light outs and hit six triples before finishing with 30 points.

Lancashire had to weather a strong shooting performance by their visitors in the opening quarter but the Spinners’ defence would clamp down on the Student Riders who went cold in the second half.

Loughborough led 28-26 after the first quarter and closed out the opening 10 minutes on a 12-3, which included four three-point buckets over the last two minutes.

Steven Vaughan was tremendous on the low block throughout, scoring 14 points for the game but his ability to hit shots early forced a defensive response from Loughborough, who switched from man-to-man and a 2-3 zone on several occasions to try and cope.

Vaughan said: “We’ve got an all around team – outside and inside – so I feel when we get going inside there’s no team that can keep up with us.

“When the defence goes inside we get the wide-open shots outside which gives us more opportunities to get better shots.

“Because they focused down on me with great passing from the outside guys like Steve Gayle, Mark Rangeley and Conor Porter, they gave me a chance to feed it back out to Josh [Houghton] and others to hit those open shots.”

The Spinners would find their footing in the second period, outscoring the Student Riders 21-12 to lead at halftime 47-40.

Mark Rangeley’s aggressive play driving the lane resulted in nine points in the second 10 minutes and helped to free up shooters on the outside for open looks.

Rangeley finished as the team’s second highest scorer with 21 points.

The game blew wide open when Kenny Ogunneye skied over his defender for a two-handed dunk, drawing the foul in the process.

His momentum changing play in the third quarter stretched the lead to double digits at 62-51 and sparked an 11-4 run with Rangeley the benefactor as the guard scored three baskets in transition.

Ogunneye would also find himself completing another three-point play after he grabbed an offensive rebound from a missed layup by Steven Gayle.

Loughborough’s shooters hit just two threes after halftime - a drastic change from seven in the opening quarter - and they also went quiet when attacking the basket, which was a product of the Spinners contesting every shot.

Houghton went 2-of-3 from behind the arc in the final quarter and his triple with 4:22 left pushed the Spinners lead to 18 and forced Loughborough into a timeout.

The 95-72 win over Loughborough keeps Lancashire at the top of the table.

The Spinners welcome London Greenhouse Pioneers to Castle Leisure Centre on March 7, tip off 5.40pm.