YORK Vikings basketball team lost 102-76 to Mansfield Giants to bring to a quick close their National Cup campaign.

The Vikings, having risen into the National League this term, are quickly learning lessons of this level having lost to Calderdale Explorers in their first cup outing last week.

They begin their NL division north campaign at Kingston Panthers on Saturday (3pm).

Head coach Rich Weeks said of the Mansfield loss: “This was a tough game for us. Giants are an established and experienced club with a great youth programme.

"We struggled with our transition from offence to defence and they scored too many lay-ups.”

Mansfield began strongly with a surge of driving lay-ups and an early lead in the first quarter.

Weeks called a time-out to compose the young Vikings, after which a flurry of three-pointers from Billy Cousins, Russell Quinn and Ollie Scott enabled the Vikings to take a slender lead as the first quarter ended.

As the second quarter began, the Giants pressed full court, pressurising the visitors into mistakes and easy baskets followed.

Despite some smart work from Jason Milner finding the open runners to ease pressure, York ended the half with a 10-point deficit and some tired players.

The second half started with intense pressure from the Giants, producing turnovers and a lead of 20 points by the end of the third quarter.

Fatigue and pressure took its toll further on the Vikings' small squad of nine and the game was effectively over at the start of the fourth.

Adam Wright ended as York's top scorer with 19 points followed by Cousins and Sam Perry, both with 13.