LANCASHIRE Spinners were knocked out of the National Basketball League play-offs at the quarter-final stage after a crushing 91-61 defeat at Derby Trailblazers.

The Bury-based side, who play at the Castle Leisure Centre, finished the regular season in seventh place and were always going to find it difficult at lofty opponents.

Having put in some of their best performances against the division’s top sides there was a hope they could upset the odds.

But they were plagued by the lack of consistency that has been the story of their season.

“We’ve just been up and down,” said Spinners coach Neal Hopkins.

“It’s been very difficult for us to truly find a rhythm and I’m disappointed with the way we have finished.

“That game summarised our season perfectly; up and down, but on this occasion we fell hard.”

It was the Spinners’ largest loss of the season, similar to their 33-point defeat to London Lituanica in the Division Two play-off final last year.

An 8-0 run gave the seventh-seed Lancashire side a 23-17 advantage with six minutes remaining in the first half.

It looked like they could threaten Derby’s unbeaten home record at that point.

However, a composed Trailblazers squad responded and cruised into the semi-finals after opening up a 57-41 lead following 16 unanswered points in the third quarter.

“We’ve been on a rollercoaster but everyone’s stood by each other,” said Lancashire guard Cian Hickey, who scored seven points.

“We’ve shown – and teams now know – that we are here to stay and win and we’ll only get stronger from here.”

Steven Gayle scored 21 points and Kyle Carey added 15 for the Spinners (25-13), whose starters combined to shoot just 12-of-39 from the field. As a team, they were just 33 percent, including going five-of-22 from three-point range.

Lancashire ended the season four wins shy of the 29-5 mark it set in 2014-15, but lost three quarter-finals – ousted from the National Cup and National Trophy at the same hurdle.

“Our fans have been the only consistent this year,” admitted Hopkins. “I am very grateful for that.”

David Watts topped the scoring for Derby with 30 points. They advance to the semi-finals for a second straight year, where they will face the Reading Rockets, who beat Essex 102-84 on Sunday.