Basketball: Wolves showing their mettle as they bounce back for two victories

Oct 22 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE West Lothian Wolves Cadet Men’s under 16 side continued to take a bite out of their National League rivals this week with a convincing 111-37 win over the Cumbernauld Chiefs.

Both teams are new to the National League this season, however the two teams are miles apart in their overall development as waas shown with the final result.

The Wolves used a balanced attack, with all players seeing the ball on offence and getting their opportunities to score.

Ross Kohler led the team from the point guard position, bringing the ball up the court and setting up the plays.

He was excellent at getting other players involved and also taking the opportunities which came his way.

The Wolves used a 1-3-1 full court press in the first half, which caused the opponents to lose the ball frequently and did not allow them to get many open opportunities to score.

On the offensive end the Wolves scored almost at will and the half-time score was a whopping 51-15 in the county clubs favour.

After the break coach Marc Dickson took off the full court pressure but this had little effect on the score.

The Wolves continued to pile in the points, with every member of the team scoring at least six points.

Ross Kohler’s haul of 34 made him the sides points leader.

But the most impressive performance of the game may have come from the team's under 14 player Michael Kean, who had 10 rebounds, four steals and 13 points.

These are great numbers from someone so young playing in an under 16s league, showing he has huge potential for the future.

Meanwhile, there was also good news for the Wolves’ Junior squad who bounced back from a couple of very tough losses to get their National League campaign back on track with a 50-38 win over the Grampian Flyers.

The Wolves came into the game facing the leagues top team in the undefeated Grampian side but they upset the form book with a disciplined team defensive display capped with self belief.

The first quarter was a tight affair between the two teams with the score at the end of the quarter being 11-11.

The Wolves team play on both ends of the floor was being matched by Grampian's one man show, with their guard Michael Padua holding onto the ball for far too long, making it difficult for their offence to really get going.

The Wolves had a poor second quarter, looking uncomfortable and failing to put the ball in the basket time after time.

The Flyers scored every now and then, but enough to go into the half leaders by seven points.

However, the second half was a different story all together for the Wolves.

The came into the half with some self belief and started the half with a great steal from Fraser Morrison who converted the fast break basket.

The Wolves defence became even more stingy and they found confidence in their offence finishing the quarter up by seven points.

The final quarter was a tense affair with the teams trading baskets and the Flyers getting back to four points with a couple of minutes to go.

The young Wolves however found some resolve and frustrated the Flyers by hounding them on every possession and converting easy basket after easy basket to eventually win by 12 points.

The Wolves big 6'8" centre Liam Marshall pulled down 14 rebounds and scored 13 points.

Ross Kohler (star of the Cadet squad) scored nine very important points, putting the ball in the basket when it really counted and Frazer Morrison had his best game of the season with five rebounds, three steals and 10 points.

Ross Imrie came off the bench and gave some valuable minutes of great defence and a three pointer when big Liam Marshall had to sit for a while with foul trouble.

A final note should go to both Ross Patterson and Matthew Kean. Matthew was charged with defending the Flyers point guard for most of the game and helped to keep him quiet and frustrated throughout the contest.

Patterson was the key to the victory simultaneously shutting down the Flyers big guy Ethan Kitt-Hayes and constantly playing help defence to stop any easy drives to the basket by the visitors.

All in all it was a great team effort all round, and a great win that puts the season campaign back on track for both Wolves packs.