Derby Trailblazers U18’s Vs. Worcester Wolves U18’s

Venue: Noel Baker School, Derby

Date 12/01/13 Tip Off: 2pm

Worcester Wolves U18’s took the long trip to Derby to start the second half of their title campaign. It was going to be a tough game as the Wolves only just snatched a 3 point win back on their home court at the start of the season. Hopefully they could repeat that performance away from home and extend their lead at the top of the table.

The first quarter got off to a good start for Wolves as the interior passing was on the money and many points came from lay ups from good passes from Sam Broughton and Ash Dickson. The Wolves lead at the end of the quarter 23-19 with Broughton and Dave Nash both on 6 points.

The second quarter was much the same for the Wolves but the passing just got better and better as the points continued to flow. The Wolves defence looked strong but Derby wouldn’t lie down as they started to heat up from long range hitting 3 threes in the quarter alone. This made the game a lot closer than maybe it should have been for the Wolves. They still led at the half 41-38 but Derby won that quarter by one cutting the lead down to just three.

Coach Sawar had a good talk with the team at half time and whatever he said worked because they came out fired up and looked to attack Derby on the break as well as in the half court set. The Wolves were slowly stretching out there lead as Derby had no answer to the Wolves dominance. As the Wolves stepped up on offence they also stepped up on defence causing turnovers, resulting in easy steals for the Wolves, followed by easy points at the other end. Dylan Richardson helped out with 9 points in the quarter and helped secure 3 steals. Wolves outscored derby in the third quarter 19-10 giving them a 12 point lead at the start of the 4^th.

Wolves came out really slow in the 4^th quarter allowing Derby to control the pace of the game. The pace was too fast for the Wolves and Derby started to pick off lose passes and convert at the other end. As Wolves continued to score easy points Derby just replied every time with even more points of their own. For the first time in the game they took the lead and they looked to continue pushing and stretched their own lead out to 7 points. Vital possessions from the Wolves kept the game close throughout the final quarter; a 3 from Dickson pulled the game back level with 30 second to go. Derby scored a free throw with just 10 seconds to go which put the pressure back onto the Wolves. Wolves broke down court and got a good shot away but it bounced off the rim and into the air. Broughton who had already taken 21 boards got the rebound but it got tipped away from him. With 0.4 seconds on the clock Wolves had to get a quick shot off, it fell to Broughton who got off a good tip shot that bounced around the rim and came out as time expired.

Wolves narrowly missing out on the win in the end, it was a hard fought battle but unfortunately with only 7 players kitting up Wolves were always going to find this game tough. Wolves welcome Nott’s Nova to the University Of Worcester on Saturday who lie 8^th in the table. Tip-off is at 2pm.

Wolves Top Scorers: Dylan Richardson 25 points, Sam Broughton 16 points, Ash Dickson 13 points.

Report written by Thomas Cox