Basketball: West Lothian Wolves enjoy mixed results in January

Feb 4 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE WEST Lothian Wolves Cadet basketball squad are perched on top of the league table at the moment.

But they cannot afford any slips as their Glasgow City rivals are lurking in the rearview mirror.

Glasgow are trailing the Wolves by three points but they have the luxury of three games in hand on the county side.

January proved to be a difficult month for the Cadets (under 16s) who played two matches and unfortunately lost both.

Their first fixture of 2010 was against the tough Dunfermline Reign.

The Wolves have had their way against this club in the past but they struggled this time round with the Reign outsizing the Wolves at almost all positions.

Dunfermline put together a great offensive game and embarrassed the Wolves by comfortably winning the game 87-54.

The next game for the Wolves came against the Arbroath Musketeers, this time on cup duty, in what was already the two sides fourth meeting of the season.

Recent results against the Muskies had not been favourable and that trend continued for the Wolves who were well beaten.

The Wolves did have a better team performance in this game but the more experienced Musketeers were able to get a win, 83-65.

Cadets Head coach Marc Dickson said: “The important thing at this point of the boys development in the sport of basketball is that they continue to develop their skills and experience.

“If we mark success or failure at this stage by wins and losses then we are missing the point of sports for this age group.

“I want our boys to perform well, if we perform well and win then that is great.

“However if we perform well and lose I can accept that too.

“Our boys all have bright futures ahead of them.”

THERE was a better sequence of results for the Wolves Juniors (under 18) side as they won two of their three fixtures since the start of the year.

This squad are continuing to develop and they looked very composed in their last two league games.

Like their young club mates they tipped-off for the new year against Dunfermline Reign and like the Cadets they lost.

However, despite going down 68-60 the Wolves played very well in this game.

They had, however, a massive 29 turnovers, including several unforced, in this game leading to a number of easy baskets for the Reign.

Next it was a trip down the M8 to Glasgow City in a match which head coach Andy Smyth reckoned was a coming of age display for his side.

“This game was a real statement game for this Wolves team,” said Smyth.

“The manner in which the boys played and composed themselves shows that they are listening in practice and applying what they have learned into their games.”

The Juniors played brilliant defensively throughout the game and held a very high scoring Glasgow side to just 20 points in the first half and 41 points for the whole game.

This was even more impressive when you compare this to Glasgow City's previous two games in which they scored 92 points against the Dundee Sharks and 102 points against the Boroughmuir Blaze.

Star men for the Wolves were Ross Paterson (12 rebounds, five steals and ten points) and Daniel Brazil (12 points).)

For Brazil the match against Glasgow heralded his finest ever performance for the Wolves.

He patrolled the court in a controlled manner, scored some key baskets in the fourth quarter as well as sharing the ball and getting other team mates involved teeing them up for easy baskets in a superbly controlled performance for his side.

Finally the Junior Wolves travelled up to face the tough Highland Bears in Inverness.

The Bears had dominated the Wolves this season in their previous two league games.

However, this time the Wolves controlled the pace of this game from the start using their aggressive defence and a smart attack to beat the Inverness side.

Frazer Morrison was sublime throughout the game chasing the Bears speedy guards around the court and not allowing them to have their way in this game.

Frazer had eight rebounds, seven steals and 19 points in a brilliant all round game.

Ross Kohler, the Wolves young point guard, showed a new maturity as he controlled the offence and put in a very tough shift on the defensive end.

Ross finished with seven rebounds and 15 points.

The Wolves two big men Ross Paterson and Liam Marshall out played the Bears big men in this game with Paterson finishing with a massive 17 rebounds, five steals and 12 points while Liam had 14 rebounds and 16 points.

The Wolves Juniors are currently third in their league.

THE Wolves Senior Men who started 2010 off with a Chairmen’s Cup clash against Glasgow City.

Unfortunately the county side were second best throughout and were dumped out of the cup.

Next up was a league match up against the Boroughmuir Blaze.

The Blaze had easily beaten the Wolves early in the season but lightning didn’t strike twice with the Wolves winning 58-52.

The Wolves were lead by Andy Smyth with 17 points, Marc Dickson chipped in 10 rebounds and 13 points, whilst Richard Harrison added 13 rebounds and nine points.

The game was won however on defence with Andy Sturrock playing excellent defence against the Blazes high scoring guards.

Then the Seniors entertained the undefeated league leaders the Baskeeters on home turf.

Defence again was the key to this game with the Wolves not allowing the league points scorer Emil Moscinski to meet his points average of 22 points per game.

This was achieved by double teaming the big centre when he got the ball.

However the Wolves also broke out to defend the three point line and make the Basketeers take tough shots all game long.

The Wolves were led by their forward Owen Cook who had 13 rebounds and 30 points.

He was supported by Marc Dickson with 11 rebounds and 15 points, Ben O'Connell with 8 points and Andy Sturrock who had 10 rebounds.

MEANWHILE, the Wolves Division Two senior squad finally found some form with two league wins in a row against the Pleasance and the Basketeers respectfully.

There is a lot of basketball opportunities open to people of all age groups through the Wolves.

There are squads from primary school right up to senior men and women and anyone interested in joining the squad can get more information by contacting Andrew Smyth on 01506 774745 or via e-mail at andrew.smyth@westlothian.gov.uk