Erks defence of their EMBL title didn't get off to the start they wanted as they lost at Lakers for the second year running.

A different looking Erks team included 2 new members in John Bose and Gareth Sims and the reappearance of Ed Bailey and Gary Glennard. From last season's team, Declan McCusker, Garbage Time Dave Churches, Lee Atkinson and Martin Overare completed the line up.

A slow start saw the Erks fall behind 8 - 0 before Martin Overare hit quick 10 points and a 3 pointer off the back board on the buzzer saw the scores levelled at 21 at the end of the first quarter. The home side, once again flew out at the start of the second quarter to race into a 33 - 23 lead before Erks hit a spell of inside play from Garbage Time Dave and 8 free throws from Declan McCusker saw Erks take a 45 - 41 half time lead.

The second half saw Erks undoing as various line ups and switching defences had no impact as Erks struggled to score and by the end of the third had fallen behind 64 - 60. The fourth quarter was even worse with Erks only registering 6 points until a garbage time 3 pointer from Martin Overare saw the Erks only score 9 in the quarter with Lakers continuing to score regularly, the home side ran out winners by 13.

Erks scorers:
Declan McCusker 9; Gary Glennard 6; Martin Overare 28; Ed Bailey 11; Garbage Time Dave 15; Lee Atkinson; Gareth Sims; John Bose.