Basketball: Strength in depth takes Bullets to the top

Birmingham Bullets cheered their fans' Christmas by taking top spot in the Budweiser League with a double-win weekend, emphasising that they have strength in depth to take the title which is slipping from the grasp of Greater London Leopards.

The American Tony Dorsey, who has a bruised retina, missed both Saturday night's 102-87 victory at struggling Worthing Bears and the Bullets' 91- 87 victory last night against Manchester Giants at the National Indoor Arena.

Other Americans, H L Coleman and Reggie Kirk, and the Barbadian Nigel Lloyd led Birmingham's scorers in each game, totalling 59, 46, and 40 points respectively for the weekend.

Second-placed London Towers beat Worthing 97-63 last night. The Bears' new Canadian signing, Greg Francis, scored just four points after hitting 31 the previous night against Birmingham.

The Leopards lost further ground on Friday night with a 107-99 defeat, their fifth of the season in the league, against Thames Valley Tigers at Bracknell. Leopards were hit by a burst of five three-pointers in the first quarter. Two three pointers from John White later cut Tigers' lead to 97-96, but they sealed victory from the foul line as John McCord led their scorers with 38 points.