MANCHESTER Magic bounced straight back from their first defeat of the season with victory in their favourite tournament.

Jeff Jones’ champions let a big first-half lead slip at Reading on Saturday night to go down to their main rivals 78-70 in EBL Division One.

But last night, in front of a watching John Amaechi, they showed they had no hangover by beating Birmingham 89-61 in the National Cup on their home court.

That puts Magic into the fourth round of the event that they have won for the past two years, though defeat in the league means they can afford no more off-nights in defending the most important part of their treble.

Magic had been up by as many as 20 points against the Rockets, but went down by eight to give their rivals the early advantage in the title race.

“We played our best basketball of the season for the first 20 minutes but we couldn’t maintain it,” said coach Jones.

“If we had executed a bit better we might have put it beyond them. Some of our inexperience showed and it was disappointing to lose having played so well to start with.

“They are tough but beatable, especially on the road and if that happens it will give us a shot.

“I would be very disappointed if we didn’t beat them on our home floor.”

Captain Stefan Gill led by example on both nights, top-scoring with 20 at Reading and a whopping 33 against Birmingham that would have been more but for Jones allowing all his bench players court-time.

Tanner Adu hit 18 against Reading with fellow guard Brandon Kimbrough scoring 14, while Steve Boonham backed up Gill with 17 against Birmingham.

“We are at about 80 per cent of where we want to be, but we maintained our composure against Birmingham after the loss the night before and we ended up winning quite comfortably.

“It usually takes us to December to getting going properly so to have an 8-1 record at this point is pretty good.”

The Mystics went down 78-48 at home to London Acers on Saturday as they looked for their second win of the season.

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