LANCASHIRE Spinners toppled Birmingham Mets as Mark Rangeley set a career-high and franchise record in a 107-70 win, writes Allen Gunn.

Rangeley exploded for a game-high 43 points on 17-for-21 shooting and he also converted on five of his six attempts from three-point range in the Bury-based team’s first game without the injured Kenny Ogunneye.

Player-coach Steven Gayle recorded 29 points while Taiwo Ogunneye added eight points and two blocks off the bench as Spinners shot 67 per cent from the field.

For the majority of the first half, Gayle’s team played at the pace of their opponents who settled into a half-court offence and opted against using their size advantage in the paint and instead worked one-on-one isolation plays to attack the basket.

Although they were successful at the rim with Gayle scoring 23 points over the first 20 minutes, Spinners were in a dogfight at the break, leading 44-37.

Rangeley said, “It was a closer game than we wanted going into the second half and I knew I had to contribute more on the offensive end.”

“Without Josh [Houghton] and Kenny we had to make adjustments. Kenny gives us so many rebounds and Josh spaces the floor and it took us a half to realise that other people had to step up and do those things.”

A 29-point third quarter helped Spinners to pull away from Mets following half time adjustments at both ends where Birmingham had controlled the rebounding battle 20-17 until that point – Spinners would out-rebound Birmingham 37-30 by the end of the game.

The game was stagnant over the first two minutes of the third period but a Rangeley dunk sparked both teams to life as the two traded baskets until Spinners opened up a 69-45 lead.

“My team did a great job of getting me in the spots where I like to attack from and the ball was dropping for me today,” said Rangeley.

T Ogunneye stepped up during the 19-5 run and made a block in transition that further disrupted the Birmingham offence, which shot 38 per cent. The forward’s play turned into five-straight Spinners points.

Lancashire carried a 73-52 lead into the final 10 minutes and would outscore Birmingham 16-7 in the first five minutes as Mets continued to come up with empty possessions.

Aitor Estrada’s three-point basket with under two minutes to go pushed Spinners onto the century mark for a fourth time in Division Two play.

Lancashire Spinners host Eastside Eagles in the last home game of the season at Castle Leisure Centre on Saturday, tip off 5.40pm.