Tough day for Wolves men

t was a tough evening for Oaklands Wolves men as they suffered a pair of double digit defeats, on Saturday.

Former Wolves Talles Zacharias and Montel Dennis came back to haunt their old club with 21 and 20 points respectively as visitors NASSA won 83-64 on Saturday evening while Oaklands II suffered a heavy 101-50 loss at Anglian Ruskin University.

A high scoring first period saw Wolves trail 30-15 at the first break but La'Quaren Sayers launched a much improved second period, and his triple followed by a Lanre Pratt lay-up cut the deficit to 34-31 midway through the quarter.

Pratt and Sayers continued to dominate the hosts' offence, and the latter converted a pair of free-throws as Wolves trailed 46-40 at half-time but the hosts went scoreless in the first five minutes of the second half and NASSA took a stranglehold on the game they would never lose.

Oliver Rudzinski, eventually ended the drought and despite a Sayers triple followed by a pair of Jack Davies free-throws, the hosts trailed 63-50 at the final break.

Daren Agbonogah's lay-up opened the fourth period scoring before Davies drained a triple but that was the only time Wolves were within single figures as the east London side closed out the win.

Sayers led Fiath Karahan's team with 23 points and five rebounds, while Davies added ten points. Pratt continued his excellent first season in senior basketball with ten rebounds to go with his eight points.

 Meanwhile in Division Three, the young Wolves' team never recovered from a 25-9 first period as they suffered a heavy loss in Cambridge. Daniel Kostadinov led the visitors with 12 points, with Drew Armistead and Mpondu adding seven apiece. 

The weekend preview

Wolves' senior men will continue their fight to remain in NBL Division Two South when they host NASSA on Saturday, tip-off 6pm.

Faith Karahan's team won their last outing against London Stars but saw last week's trip to Westminster Warriors postponed due to court problems, so they will want to continue their good start to 2023 against their east London opponents on Saturday evening.

Despite 17 points from La'Quaren Sayers, the hosts won 77-65 when the teams met at UEL SportsDock in October, and are currently chasing a play-off spot in fourth place with a 8-5 record.

Karahan will need another big game from Sayers if his side are to record their third league of the campaign but he'll also look to Callum Johnstone who scored 21 points in 20 minutes as Wolves academy lost a thriller 80-75 against Coppleston (Ipswich)on Wednesday.

Wolves II also return to action after a week off, travelling to Anglia Ruskin University on Saturday evening where they will look for revenge against a side who inflicted heavy home losses against them in both Division Three and the National Cup at the start of the season.

Due to the National Cup finals there is only a limited amount of junior games this weekend, and the U-14 girls will look to build on last week's 39-point win at Bristol Academy Flyers when they host Ipswich. Allison Day's team beat the Suffolk side in a pre-season tournament but went down 67-39 when tee sides met at Coppleston in October. The win in Bristol lifted Wolves off the bottom of the South Premier, and they face an Ipswich side who are one place above them in seventh spot.

Wolves U-16 girls will be after quickfire revenge at 2pm on Sunday as they host a Luton side who beat them 81-52 in Bedfordshire last week. That result lifted Luton up to fifth in the table with a 7-3 record while Wolves remain second from bottom with one win from ten games.

Wolves U-15 boys will also aim to bounce back after a heavy loss against Luton when they host Stevenage Royals at 4pm on Sunday afternoon. It will be another tough test for Sayers' team as they face a side who are fourth in the table with a 6-3 record.

Fire dampened in thriller

Wolves U-14s continued their push for home court advantage in the play-offs as they defeated NBL Premier East leaders Brentwood Fire 80-75 in an overtime thriller.

Ibrahim Gariba's team trailed by 13 at half-time, and were still down by eight going into the fourth period but a stunning comeback saw them chalk up the victory.

An evenly matched first period saw Fire shade things by three points, but they gained control with a 24-14 second quarter to take a commanding lead into the locker room at half-time despite a buzzer-beating trey from Tituoan Vimeux.

Sam Mcree opened the second half scoring and Wolves gradually chipped away at the deficit with Zac Butterworth trimming the advantage to 58-50 at the final scheduled break. It was Vimeux who put Wolves ahead down the stretch but Fire took the game into an extra period, only to see Liam Schertel drain a three to open the bonus time bfore Byron Scott made it a five point game and Wolves never looked back.

Schertel (pictured) led Wolves with 24 points on 61 percent shooting, adding six rebounds, while Macree had a 12 point, 14 rebound double-double. Butterworth had 14 points while Vimeux and Albert Dye had ten points apiece, adding seven and six boards respectively.

Wolves U-12 boys also had a big win as they defeated MK Breakers II 70-33 with Manuel Gracia-Peris again top scoring on 24 points.

Alex Cofone added 14 points and Aiden Harriman eight as Michael Ball's team maintained their title challenge.

Wolves led 21-12 at the first break before opening up the game in the second period to lead 42-20 going into the locker room at half-time. And 18-3 third period effectively wrapped up the win before the teams split 20 fourth period points.

The U-16s couldn't build on last week's victory against London Stars as they went down 79-50 at True Vision Elite.

The visitors scored just scored 19 points across the first three periods, and trailed by 64 at the final break before winning the fourth quarter 31-17.

It was another tough weekend for Wolves' young conference teams as they again faced older opposition.

The U-15s host Luton U-16 on Saturday morning and went down 59-32 against a title-chasing visiting side.

La'Quaren's team never recovered from a poor first half as they trailed 21-5 at the first break and 39-12 at half-time. With debutant Ethan Chung leading the way with 12 points and a couple of steals, Wolves had a much better second half winning the third period 11-8 before the visitors edged the final quarter 12-9. Seth Coetzee added nine points to his seven rebounds.

The under-13 boys hosted (almost) namesakes Waveley Wolfpack U-16 in a friendly on Sunday afternoon and went down 76-58.

Jack Davies made his coaching debut and had several players missing, and his side trailed 18-9 at the first break before sharing 32 points in the second period to trail 34-25. A 20-17 third period saw the visitors edge further ahead before they wrapped up the victory with a 22-16 fourth quarter. With plenty of time remaining, the teams then played an additional ten minutes which saw the depleted Wolves outscored 28-16.

Isaac Parrot led Wolves for the first time this season with 15 points during the regulation 40 minutes, with Rocky Starr adding 14 and Frank Fojit 12.