Happy landings for Singleton

Basketball

Billy Singleton's arrival at Chester Jets, via Cyprus, Honduras, Israel, Chile and Ireland, lifted the Budweiser League strugglers to their first back-to-back wins of the season, and halted a run of 13 defeats in a row, writes Duncan Hooper.

The 6ft 6in American scored 53 points in victories over his former club, Birmingham Bullets, by 104-100 in overtime on Friday and by 87-75 at Leicester City Riders on Saturday in his third game for the club.

Singleton travelled widely after leaving Birmingham two seasons ago and joined the Jets for a tournament in Ireland over New Year. The Jets coach, Mike Burton, said: "Billy can't turn our season round on his own, but he will make a big difference."

In partnership with League leading scorer Waymon Boon, Chester have potentially the most potent American combination in the League. Boon scored 36 points in each game.

Newcastle Comets ensured Chester stayed in the bottom three, however, with a 101-88 win over last season's runners-up, Thames Valley Tigers. The leaders, London Towers, lost the rehearsal for next weekend's Seven- Up League trophy final in a 93-88 defeat at Worthing Bears.