Baker is Positive After Round 2 of L Lynch Trophy

Game two saw a young Wolves’ team produce a fighting performance before being blown away in the final quarter. Evan Walshe – who led the hosts with 33 points, five rebounds and three assists – tied the score at 67 with a trey, but from then on it was all Storm as they finished the game on a 40-13 tear.

Evan Walshe finished with 33 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

Hemel’s American duo Mike Williams and Greg Poleon led the way for the visitors as the former hit 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds while the latter had five boards to go with his 26 points. Storm had three former Leopards – Wolves’ predecessors – also finish in double figures, with Shaq Lewis bouncing his way to 17 points, Bode Adeluola hitting 12 points and pulling down eight boards and Jack Burnell having three triples on his way to 14 points.

Jordan Santiago had 14 points and six rebounds for the home-town Wolves, with Jerrel Layne added 11 points.

A high scoring first period saw Poleon put Storm 13-2 up after just over three minutes, but Wolves stayed in touch as Tony Gastaldi-Davies hit a trey to make it an eight point game before Santiago reduced the hosts’ deficit to six at the midway stage of the quarter, and Storm went into the opening break 36-25 ahead.

A strong start to the second quarter saw Walshe hit five points as Wolves stayed in touch and Walshe rounded off a 23-18 period in his team’s favour as they cut the deficit to 54-48 at half-time.

Ray Akpofure made it a one point game with just under two minutes on the clock before Walshe levelled from outside the arc before Lewis replied with five straight points to give his side a 72-67 final break lead and seven consecutive Williams points put Storm in the driving seat as they blitzed the hosts to wrap up the win.

Wolves’ coach Thomas Baker remained positive after a good three quarters from his side: “A tough start to the game had us chasing early but credit to the guys we fought our way back in. We always knew Storm had the quality to cause us problems and credit to Dru [Spinks] and his guys they were ruthless in the fourth.

“Overall we had moments of success in the game and we managed to play our brand of basketball for longer than the previous week which is pleasing, if we can correct a few issues and continue our learning in the same vein, it will be an exciting year.”