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.