Bears knew they were in for a tough game from the off as their hosts, the Whiteley Oaks, put out by far their strongest team of the season, whilst Bears were lacking a bit of height and inside presence with Ahmed having returned home, Chika having left the team, and big Matty J unavailable. Things got tougher with the opening 30 seconds, as court captain Liam Wyatt took a big blow to the head in a tussle for the ball. Visibly shaken, he had to be substituted. With Liam missing, Big Daddy Al stepped up and led the offense as Roland and Marty hit threes as Bears edged into a 9-6 lead. Liam showed his desire and commitment to the cause, asking to be put back into the game after 4 minutes on the sidelines. He was rewarded straight away, scoring the next 7 points for Bears as the lead was extended to 16-9. Defensive lapses then contributed to a 7-1 run for the Oaks as the game was tied 17-17 with less than a minute to go in the quarter.

Pressure D from the start of the 2nd saw Bears pull away again as they outscored Whiteley 12-6 in the first 7 minutes of the quarter. The Oaks finally got their offense going again and pulled back to within 1, only for Big Sigh and Woody to take it straight back to them and restore the 7 point advantage at half-time.

Bears went small and quick at the start of the 2nd half with the introduction of Little Dan Park, joining George and Liam in the outside spots. Initially, this tactic failed to work as Oaks got some lucky breaks from the referees and a coach technical for Martyn Egan allowed them to get right back into the game with a 43-41 lead with just 2 minutes gone. But once allowed to get on with their game, the 3 of them hustled and harried the opposition into mistake after mistake and the previous 7 point lead was restored at 52-45. The rest of the quarter saw the two teams trade baskets to finish 61-57.

Woody started strongly in the 4th and was backed up by a big 3 from Marty Page as Bears maintained their advantage whilst the clock continued to tick down. Woody started to tire with 4 minutes to go, and was replaced by Moon as Bears led 73-67. He did great work keeping the Oaks big men away from the glass as Big Sigh popped up with 4 big points to put the game out of reach. Despite a couple of unusual last minute calls, Bears held on for a much deserved victory.

A great team performance with everybody stepping up and contributing to the victory!!