THE Basingstoke Blizzards bounced back to winning ways as they won a thriller against visiting Yateley Silverbacks 48-47.

The home side were without leading scorer Rob Gerrard, out with a bad ankle sprain, and work commitments also ruled out Joe Snelgrove, Damion Isaac, Jim Darlow and Gerard Grabuleda.

The starting five for the Blizzards was Aaron Taylorson, Adam Paddon, Joey Haynes, Tom Mavronicholas and Tom Fulford.

The visitors took an early 8-4 lead, but the Blizzards hit back as Taylorson and Mavronicholas turned the score around and the home side led 20-14 at the first buzzer.

As Fulford orchestrated the offence and Joey Haynes scored a long three pointer, the lead grew to 27-16 and by half-time it was 31-23.

Taylorson extended the advantage, but Yateley hit back to close the gap to one point by the end of the third quarter.

The visitors then took the lead in the contest and with two minutes to go, Fulford scored to tie the game at 47-47.

The contest was a really physical affair at this point and with 16 seconds left on the clock, Haynes’ drive to the bucket was stopped by a foul.

From the free throw line he scored his second effort to take the score to 48-47.

In the dying seconds of the game, the home defence stood tall to win.

The victory keeps the Blizzards in the play-off hunt and they will hope to have a stronger team for the visit to Craftsman tonight.

Their next home game at Queen Mary’s College is on March 3 against visiting South Bucks (tip-off 8.25pm).

The Bobcats’ run of six straight wins was ended away to Airgonauts as they lost 86-73.

Their next game is against leaders Hungerford Dogs in a crunch match a week today at QMC (tip-off 8.25 pm).