A DEPLETED Bury Blue Devils lost 81-68 at Manchester Area Basketball League's second-placed side Myerscough.

With only seven players available for the away trip, the outlook was not bright for Bury and the athletic, sharp-shooting home team quickly found their rhythm.

Bury struggled to find the target and soon found themselves in a 20-point hole.

But some changes to the tactics saw improvements, with Steve Graham finding the seams on offense and Mike Nichols limiting arguably the best home player's offensive threat.

Youngster Alex Plumb, competing against his old college, made a solid contribution, as did Omar Abbassy, finding the open man for a good shot.

And at half time the deficit had been cut to only five points.

Callum Brady continued the good defence and the return of Vitoldas Balciunas gave Bury a solid big man and another offensive threat.

In the final quarter, Bury made one last push with Darren Butterworth hitting the target but fatigue got the better of them as time ran out.

Graham top scored for Bury with 17 points while Plumb and Nichols bagged 12 apiece.