THORNLEIGH lost their first league game of the new basketball season 51-82 to an experienced and talented Stockport Atlas.

The Stockport side consisted of several ex-Premier League players who for a variety of reasons decided the commitment required to maintain top-flight status was too great.

They formed a team to play at a lower, less demanding level and their expertise will help many of the less experienced sides in Division Two in playing against them.

Their quality and experience showed throughout a closely fought game.

Thornleigh were playing some of their best basketball to keep the score to within four or five points each quarter.

It was an excellent achievement against a side with such real talent.

The home side worked hard on defence, restricting the Atlas team to mostly shots from distance.

Unfortunately, most of the away side were good from outside the box and the Thornleigh side had rarely played against a team in which all five players on court comfortably hit three pointers.

For Thornleigh top scorers were Mike Sharples and Gary Strong with 14pts each supported by Phil Tresadern, Matthew Strong and Gareth Prosser with nine each.

New players Phil Chanin and Phil Garrigan fitted well into the Thornleigh system and made up the rest of the points.

Captain Bernard Kirkbright said: "If we can stay injury free and field this strength of squad for most of the season we will win a significant number of games".