Wolves Fall to Storm

Wolves' coach Thomas Baker had praise for his side's youngsters despite a 95-63 loss against neighbours Hemel Storm, on Saturday.

The home side held the big-spending visitors scoreless for more than five minutes to open the fourth period and finished on a 12-0 run to leave Baker pleased with a good finish:

"It was great being back out on the floor with the guys, another step on the journey that this new programme is going on" he said. "Credit to Hemel, we knew they would be tough and they proved their quality throughout the game. I was extremely impressed with a number of the college guys, they stepped up and demonstrated what it means to be part of this team."

Jordan Santiago led Wolves with 24 points nine rebounds and five steals, while Oaklands Academy graduate Ahmed Ketiri added eight points, five rebounds three, blocks and two assists. American pair Mike Williams (27 points and four rebounds) and Greg Poleon (18 points and eight boards) led the visitors.

Although captain Santiago twice levelled in the early stages, it was one-way traffic for much of the first three periods as Storm showed why they are one of the favourites for the league title. Despite treys from Santiago and James Cummings, it took a late basket from the latter to cut Hemel's led 26-16 at the opening break.

Youngsters Kane Daley and Ollie Wright along with Santiago both scored from downtown in the second period but Storm hit four three-points as they outscored Wolves 30-14 to lead 56-30 going into the locker room.

The onslaught continued in the third period as they opened with a 16-2 run, Santiago the only home player to trouble the scorer, and although Ray Akpofure capped an 8-2 tear following a lovely Ketiri assist, before Ketiri hit a triple, Storm went into the final break leading 83-43.

Daley launched a strong fourth period for Wolves as they scored the first eight points of the quarter before a pair of Jack Burnell treys in a 10-0 Storm run took the visitors' lead to 42 points before Oaklands finished strongly with Ketiri launching the 12-2 run as a young lineup finished well.