United won their last league home game against Manchester Magic this weekend to boost their confidence ahead of the play-offs starting in two weeks time.

In a close fought game United trailed by 14 in the second quarter as Magic played consistant offence and took command of the boards until Pete Deppisch finally sparked some life into the home side as he hit two three pointers in the transition offence and then a closer two pointer. Magic failed to pick up the London sharp shooter who was struggling to nail his shots earlier on in the game.

London struggled at the offensive end as they missed lay-ups and open three's throughout, although defensively coach Majewski was not unhappy with the fact that Manchester's scoring was kept to only 32 at the half as London trailed by 4.

In the 3rd quarter Magic started brightly hitting 3 successive three's although London's Walid Mumuni turned up the heat as he took his man to the basket to score 8 consecutive points bringing London back to 4 down.

The last quarter started well for London as within 1 minute they took the lead as Valon Grabsci worked well with Callender to hit the jump shot from the top of the key and pick up a foul to get the extra point from the foul line.

Gill then retaliated with a 3 of his own for Magic as they changed the lead with 6 minutes to go at 50-54.

Steve Vear then nailed a three pointer for London and made a layup along with Mumuni on the break as United pushed the score to 58-54 London's way after which magic could only score 1 from 2 after Callender's 5th and final foul to stop Lovedale from scoring.

With 1 minute remaining Grabsci scored another jump shot from exactly the same spot, to give London a 60-55 lead however Pete Deppisch (after the same mistake against Worthing) handled the ball after it went through the hoop giving away a technical foul and penalising London with 2 free throws and posession to Magic. Magic proceeded to score both shots from the charity stripe and from their posession to narrow the scores at 60-59 London's way.

Magic were again awarded with 2 free throws with 54 seconds remaining after an open court foul however John Shaw could not regain the lead for his team missing both shots.

London's Pete Deppisch obviously smarting from his mistake, stepped up to nail a huge 3 pointer off of a specially designed offence for him to push the lead to 63-59 as Magic could then only foul the United team to put them to the foul line hoping for some misses.

Vear and Mumuni scored 4 from 6 free throws to give United a much needed confidence booster going into the play-off quarter finals in two weeks time against 7th placed Teesside Mohawks to be held at Brunel on the 3rd April tip off at 4pm.

United won 67-61 in another exciting game for the home fans.

Top scorers were Mumuni 19, Callender 16, Deppisch 11.

United did well to keep Magic's main scorers to Gill and Eaves 13 and Lovedale 9.

United fans should be aware that the playoff Quarter Final is scheduled for the 3rd April against Teesside Mohawks at Brunel tip off at 4pm. Tickets are available on the door, see their web site for more information www.london-united.co.uk

London United 67 Manchester Magic 61