Isle of Man Basketball Association’s senior league reached the halfway stage of the regular season at the NSC on Thursday evening.

The two games saw reigning champions Cavaliers take on newcomers Ravens, while the later match saw PwC Hoops go up against the experienced Turkeys team.

A bright start to the first game from the young Ravens team saw Matthew Jones score the opening basket with a strong drive to the hoop.

Cavaliers responded with Martin French hitting a mid-range outside shot to level the game, before both teams then traded baskets but it was Cavs who edged ahead to lead by a single point midway through the first quarter.

A quick seven points from Dave Minay saw Cavs stretch their lead but Ravens responded with baskets from Conylt Dillon and Jones again to keep them within touching distance of their opponents.

The quarter ended with Cavaliers leading 19-11.

The start of the second period saw the Ravens team struggle to keep up with the free-scoring Cavs and, with Minay helping himself to another 10 points, it was his side who went into the half-time break leading 42-19.

A strong half-time talking to by Ravens coach Michael Pardoe saw the the young team start the third quarter with renewed vigour and, although they were unable to reduce Cavs’ lead, they matched their scoring basket-for-basket, with Miltos Provatakis helping himself to eight points with some impressive outside shooting.

The end of the third quarter saw Cavaliers leading 57-33.

The fourth and final period saw Cavs regain control of the game and they eased to a 68-37 victory at the end of the contest.

Leading the scoring for Cavaliers were Minay with 23 points and Martin French with 13, while Provatakis with 12 and Dillon on nine led the way for Ravens. The latter was also named as the player of the match.

The second game of the evening between PwC Hoops and Turkeys saw the former steal the ball from the tip-off to open the scoring with two points from Becky Dunne, but Turkeys responded well by scoring the next six points to open up a 6-2 lead.

A trademark ’down town’ three-pointer from Lauren Ellison saw Hoops reduce the lead to a single point but it was Turkeys, helped by the outside shooting of David Boyd, who led the game 12-7 at the end of the quarter.

The second period saw Turkeys start well and, with Steve Christian helping himself to eight points with some strong inside moves to the basket, they opened up a 22-7 lead.

A three-pointer from Steven Mulhern and another from Ellison enabled Hoops to eat into Turkeys’ lead but some fine outside shooting from Boyd towards the end of the quarter saw his side go into the half-time interval with a 32-15 lead.

The start of the third period saw Chris Wolfendale of Turkeys find his range and he hit four three-pointers to give Turkeys a 58-23 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

The final period was a basket-fest by both teams, with Turkeys taking the quarter 28-19 to leave the final score 76-42 in their favour.

Leading the scoring for Turkeys were Boyd with 28 points and Wolfendale on 17 which included five three-pointers, while the top scorers for PwC Hoops were Dunne with 13 and Ellison with eight.

Player of the match was Dunne of Hoops.