BURY Blue Devils advanced to round three of the Manchester Area Basketball League Cup with a 73-59 victory over Cheshire MMU firsts.

Bury started strongly but MMU matched them for the first four minutes.

But a 13-2 run sparked by Ste Graham, and scores from Nick Metcalfe and Chris Stainton gave Bury the advantage.

The second quarter proved to be a closer affair with Stainton and Metcalfe hitting the target and veteran Stu Jackson using his size.

And but for a brilliant pass by Darren Butterworth that allowed an opposition player to hit an open three, Bury would have led by 10.

The addition of youngster Alex Plumb on the boards gave Bury some stability in the second half and it was another youngster, Omar Abbassy, that then stepped up, hitting consecutive threes.

Bury closed the quarter out leading 53-47.

Defensively Bury dug in after that, limiting MMU to poor shots.

Callum Brady, after great ball movement, hit two threes to give Bury a cushion.

Then some smart play and control in the final minutes saw Bury secure the win.

The top three scorers for Bury were Abbassy with 15 points, Metcalfe with 14 and Stainton on 13.