TCS Chester Jets 108, Thames Valley Tigers 94: JETS went ton-up for the first time this season as they romped to victory at the Northgate Arena on Sunday, over a Tigers side that had beaten them in Bracknell a month ago, writes Chris -topher Beesley.

Coach Paul Smith said: 'I'm delighted we've finally hit the 100 target as we'd been threatening to do so for a long time. We started the season scoring in the 70s and 80s, but with us now consecutively in the 90s, we were sure that it was bound to come soon.

'The high-scoring matches are indicative of the fast-tempo basketball that we want to play, but we must remember that Thames Valley are one of the tougher teams in this league and they did us down at their place.

'Ryan Huntley was my MVP for his game and he's been outstanding since he came here. He's a nice guy who puts in a lot of hard work that doesn't always show up on the stat sheet, but tonight he was really explosive and showed some other aspects to his game - like I didn't know he could dunk.'

Jets bossed proceedings from the start and overwhelmed the visitors in the first couple of minutes, forcing Tigers coach Paul James to call an early time-out after taking a 10-0 lead, despite Calvin Davis picking up two early fouls.

Sporting his trademark headband, turning on the tricks and playing to the crowd, Michael Nurse was reminiscent of John Thomas in his pomp, and particularly impressed with a move in which he turned inside Nick Moore to score while also drawing the foul.

Jets led 23-18 at the end of the first quarter, but despite a similar start to the second that began with a 9-2 tear, their lead was cut to 47-43 at the interval as Josiah James and Michael New started to find their shooting range for Tigers.

The early exchanges in the third were notable for some fine examples of long-range shooting from Jets, with Nurse bagging a downtown double and Huntley dropping three successive trebles.

A turned ankle forced James Hamilton off in the third period, but this did not affect their dominance as they entered the final 10 minutes 80-63 up.

Tigers rookie Josiah James cranked up the heat in the fourth as he bagged 14 points in the quarter, including a spectacular one-handed tomahawk dunk that brought applause from the home crowd, but it was something of a one-man show as Jets eased home.

Some late jitters saw the home side make a meal of reaching the elusive century mark for a while, but all was well once they reached three digits.

Jets' scorers: McCord (28); Huntley (27); Nurse (20); Davis (18); Singleton (9); Hamilton (6).