DEFEATING local rivals Bury Bluedevils has been one of the highlights of an impressive start to the season for Bolton.

The Bolton College outfit have recorded a 101-82 win against Warrington Vikings on the opening day of the season and then followed it up with this victory.

The club will be hoping to keep up their good form on this season after the disappointment of finishing in the bottom half of the Premier Division of the Manchester Area Basketball League.

Club secretary Suneet Patel said: "We have had a good start to the season with two wins under our belts.

"During the summer, we brought in a few new players who have been really good for the team.

"Moe Giffari and Matt Michalak have come from the university and play with some of the other uni players.

"It is great because they have an understanding playing for Bolton and the university side.

"But we are always looking for more players to keep developing a squad for later in the season.

"If we can add a few more faces it might help us."

The Bluedevils are a good side so it was great to pick up a result there."

Bury welcomed local rivals Bolton in a clash that had seen the Bluedevils come out on top on the previous two occasions.

The trend seemed to be repeated at Bury stormed out to a healthy lead with great ball movement and cuts.

Phil Stainton and Bart Szareko the beneficiaries of some great passes from Jay Knowles.

Bolton were caught unawares and the Bluedevils held a 22-9 point lead after a quarter.

Bury continued the good play and defensively Mike Nichols stepped up with some good play and Nick Marshall brought some intensity.

Bolton rallied and stepped up the pressure to pull back to finish the half only down seven.

Both sides traded baskets in the second half but Bury's Ergoli Togo found his range on the jumpshots to helping Bury sustain a lead of a point after a flurry of baskets by Bolton.

Heading into the final 40 seconds of the tie, Phil Stainton's long range efforts helped the Bluedevils to a five point lead.

But, Bolton took advantage of poor passing by the Bluedevils and Graham Greene held his nerve to put the visitors one point ahead with 13 seconds left on the clock.

The grandstand finish was ensured when Bury missed two foul shots with seven seconds remaining.

But Greene returned to haunt his former club who converted two free throws and extend their lead.

Togo went up the field and hit a three to sent the game into over-time.

Bolton looked the stronger side in added time and the Bluedevils felt the pressure as they had the momentum and thought they had the game in the bag.

Bury made poor decisions allowing Bolton to sneak ahead for a 89-85 point win.

Elsewhere, in Division Two, Horwich continue to impress in a 65-42 win against Rossendale Raptors.

It was a bit of a grudge match as they lost to the Raptors marginally in the quarter-final play offs.

They started with a strong squad to try get an early lead and it worked well.

Horwich were getting easy baskets and keeping the Raptors at bay.

The hosts made the most of our defensive rebounds which helped loads and the first quarter finished 12-6 to Horwich.

Player Steven Bush said: "We worked hard and made sure everyone was aware and knew their places which meant we didn't stray and create gaps for them to get easy baskets against us and were forced to shoot from outside most of the time.

"The second quarter finished 17-8 which in total is 29-14 to Horwich by half time.

"We ran some full court press and put pressure on them which forced them to turn the ball over a few times.

"We added to our tally in the third and fourth quarters winning 15-10 and 21-18.

"We had control of the game throughout but feel like we could have done better and maybe slowed the offence down at times to try create easier baskets.

"All in all we are happy with our first league win."

The top points scorers for Horwich were: Paul Clarke 18 points, Johnny Escobar 14 points and David Howard 13 points.

Bush insists the Locos have started the season well.

He said: "We are really looking forward to the rest of the season and it's looking promising for Horwich this year.

"We have a lot of potential and could be looking for promotion.

"We are working hard to improve and it paid off in our last game.

"I think we are more confident and a stronger team.

"Each game we are playing we are getting better.

"Hopefully we can continue in the Manchester Amateur Basketball League on Tuesday night when we play Hough End who are in the division above us.

"It would be great if we could have a decent cup run."

In the same division, Thornleigh picked up the points after Congleton failed to raise a team.