Basketball: Wolves end calendar year with mixed bag of results

Dec 17 2009 West Lothian Courier

GEOGRAPHY was against the West Lothian Wolves this weekend as the different squads faced fixtures at opposite ends of the country.

This meant that cadet (under-16) stars Ross Kohler, Matthew Kean and Duncan McPherson could not play a double shift for their usual squad and the under-18s.

So the juniors (under-18s) headed north to Ellon to face a strong Grampian side three players down.

The Wolves had beaten the Flyers at home in Linlithgow earlier in the season.

However playing without the three cadets men proved too much for the juniors as the Flyers started well and scored a number of unanswered baskets.

The Wolves could not find the basket and went into the half-time break having netted only six baskets.

The positive points of the games were the great effort and contribution of the Wolves rookie Ross Imrie, who continues to improve game on game.

The Wolves other rookie, Duncan Ewan, got a large amount of court time, which will really aid to his improvement.

The Wolves looked a bit more spirited in the fourth quarter, when the game was over.

Meanwhile the cadets travelled to Cumbernauld to face off against the Chiefs, in what would be the two teams’ third meeting already this season. The Wolves destroyed the Chiefs in the first meeting, a league match, winning the game by over 70 points.

The teams then met up in Scottish Cup action just over a week later and again the Wolves romped to victory.

But this time, despite a pre-match warning from head coach Andy Smyth, they did not expect to face off against a very focused Chiefs side who were desperate for their first league victory in nine games. Cumbernauld were the aggressors throughout the game, frustrating the Wolves and putting them off their game.

The Wolves players found themselves in foul trouble early and had to sit key players through much of the game.

And they began to unravel in the second half allowing the Chiefs to gain more and confidence and eventually run off winners by 13 points.

Wolves coach Marc Dickson said: “I will have to give respect to the Chiefs coach as he did everything right to take away our strengths.”

The cadets will need to beat Arbroath this coming weekend in order to keep their title hopes on track.

The Wolves senior men were also on court as they lined up for their final game before the Christmas break.

They were up against East Lothian outfit, Prestige, who were winners of the Second Division last year.

Due to a spate of injuries and illnesses the Wolves could only play with six players but those who did play made up for their numerical disadvantage with great effort, attitude and team play throughout the squad.

The Wolves never trailed in the game and used good ball movement, aggressive moves to the basket and good outside shooting to pull ahead winning the first quarter 13-8 and the second quarter 21-17.

This gave the West Lothian side a nine-point lead going into the half.

The Prestige did seem to come to life in the second quarter going on a 13-0 scoring run, however the Wolves weathered this comeback and steadied their attack.

The third quarter saw the Wolves coming out a little slow, and they began to allow the prestige back into the game, with a number of missed baskets and fouls.

The final quarter saw some excellent defence and some inspired offence from the Wolves.

One lovely play stuck out, where the Wolves centre grabbed a defensive rebound, passing it out to Owen Cook who torpedoed the ball three quarters of the way down the court to Andy Smyth. He tapped the ball over his head away from a defender into the path of Marc Dickson who had a wide open lay-up.

The Wolves exploded for 31 points in the fourth quarter and only allowed the Prestige to score 10 points as they ran out winners 73-46.

Finally the Wolves primary school squad had their first set of games in the under-12 local league.

This is the first-ever Wolves primary school squad, and is an essential part of the growth and development of the club and sport in West Lothian.

The Wolf cubs finished the day with one win and three losses. They lost the first game to Fury 9-2, won the second game to Blaze 12-11, lost the third to fury 19-8 and lost the fourth to Blaze 7-11.

Head coach Liam Marshall was very happy with one win and believes that the primary school squad will continue to improve with time and more game experience.

The feedback from the kids and parents was good and everyone enjoyed themselves. The primary squad meets on Friday afternoons at St Margaret's Academy.

Phone Andrew Smyth on 07841 405 468 for more details.