TCS Chester Jets 85 London Towers 99

FORMER Jets coach Robbie Peers grabbed his first victory back at the Northgate Arena as Towers boss on Sunday as his side took advantage of a shoddy display from the hosts.

Coach Paul Smith said: 'I've never seen our players make so many mistakes. The defeat means we've lost back-to-back games and there's no way we can afford to lose a third, but the manner of performance was more worrying. Maybe we were too intense, which can affect quality. We've done well all season but certain players have now got to step up.

'Our turnovers and missed lay-ups probably amounted to about 30 lost points. We almost clawed our way back before half-time but I was disappointed that we'd got ourselves in the hole in the first place and we seemed to be playing with a lot of tension.'

Jets had also been beaten 99-90 at Newcastle on Thursday and following another success for Eagles on Sunday (99-74 at Milton Keynes), Fabulous Flournoy's side are now just a win behind them at the summit with a game in hand.

Towers burst out of the blocks to go 8-0 up early on as Jets took almost two-and-a-half minutes to register their first points.

While Jets players were throwing wild passes and blocking each other from scoring, the likes of Jerry Williams, Lynard Stewart and Sullivan Phillips were all gliding to the hoop with ease.

The visitors led 26-17 at the end of the first but a Trey Moore steal from Williams in the final minute before the interval enabled Anthony Martin to put Jets level for the first time since the tip.

Towers regained the lead (42-40) by the break and extended it after the restart as Jets' physical prowess suffered with Calvin Davis and DJ Harrison walking a tightrope with four fouls apiece.

Jets trailed 71-62 going into the final period and Towers' advantage ballooned to 20 points (91-71) as heads dropped in the home camp.

It came as no surprise when Harrison was fouled out following a technical with 2:35 left on the clock, while Myers followed 34 seconds from the end.

Jets' scorers: Myers (20); Davis (15); Moore & Harrison (both 13); Herriman (10); Singleton & Martin (both 7).