Hurricanes U16’s v Worcester Wolves U16 Development Squad

Venue: Bournside School - Cheltenham

Date 15/2/13 Tip Off: 7:00pm

Worcester Wolves U16 development squad is a team put together to play in the Wolves Academy Central Venue League. With regular training the squad are looking to push their progress further with a series of friendly matches against other teams in the surrounding area. Wolves played their first away game against Hurricanes in Cheltenham on Friday night.

Despite Wolves scoring the first basket of the night, through George Davis, their nerves soon took over. Sloppy offence led to several turnovers for the Wolves and Hurricanes were quickly 5-2 in front. Wolves started to tighten up their defence to prevent Hurricanes getting close to the basket. Wolves captain Dan Cox stood strong in the key to take a charge and then from the resulting offence was fouled in the act of shooting and made 1-2 from the line. With Wolves committing too many fouls Hurricanes found themselves at the line 7 times in the quarter but luckily for Wolves they didn’t punish. With less than a minute remaining on the clock Keaton Jones stole the ball off the Hurricanes point guard and looked up to see Cox making his way to basket, a neat layup saw Wolves pull the score to within 2 points. A low scoring first quarter saw Hurricanes leading at the break 7-5.

Coach Lewis’ quarter break team talk worked and Wolves came out the stronger team. Alex Broughton scored 2 quick baskets which started off a 7-0 run for Wolves. Hurricanes gathered themselves back together and the teams traded baskets before a strong finish to the end of the quarter saw Hurricanes pull away again. Wolves went into the halftime break trailing 26-21.

The third quarter belonged to Wolves as they closed the gap between the two teams. All players had a valuable contribution to the team both offensively and defensively. Edgar Johnson found his range knocking down 6 points. Hurricanes couldn’t handle the Wolves inbound play under the basket resulting in Cox putting in 4 points from open layups. Wolves had overcome their early nerves and were playing well as a unit, defensively they were very strong and offensively were starting to show promise with Broughton adding a presence under the basket. The quarter finished Hurricanes 37-33 Wolves.

With the game ending after the third due to timings, Hurricanes took the win. Wolves were looking stronger and stronger as the game went on and who knows with another quarter what could have happened. The Wolves will take the game as a very valuable one in learning terms and will look ahead to their game when they play Frankley Falcons in the Wolves Academy Central Venue League on March 15^th as they look to continue their push for a top two finish.

Wolves Top Scores: Alex Broughton 11, Dan Cox 8 and Edgar Johnson 8.

Report written by Daniel Cox.