A big crowd at Oaklands College on Wednesday evening saw Wolves' junior sides split their pair of games against American touring side Pro Skills Basketball.
Wolves U-12s used their superior size to beat the visitors 77-56 but on the other court the Americans ran our 96-63 winners.
After the Sports Zone crowd had stood for the National Anthems, they saw two contrasting games with the U-12s struggling to cope with some very quick, if under-sized, visitors who caused numerous turnovers while the U-14s were gradually worn down by a physical American side.
Jacob Edrupt opened the scoring for the under-12s as they led from tip-to-buzzer, and also closed the scoring to give them a 21-12 lead, but left the action early in the second period with a broken wrist.
Although they never trailed, Michael Ball's team struggled defensively against the visitors for long spells but a Rocky Starr triple and two Zac Butterworth scores helped them go into the locker room leading 41-24.
The third period was a defensive battle as both teams struggled to score, but Alex Ryan's basket sent the hosts into the final break leading 54-39.
Butterworth and Aaron Chan took the lead out to 19 early in the fourth period, and with Butterworth adding a further seven points and both Starr and Ryan chipping in with four apiece, Wolves wrapped up a hard-fought victory.
Bullock led all scorers with 29, with Starr adding 18 and both Ryan and Manuel finishing with eight each.
In contrast, the U-14s never really got going, and despite seven points from Otis Lau-Johnston and four from Paul Biescas-Cervantes, Jack Rankin's team trailed 26-13 at the first break. Laur-Johnson scored Wolves' first five points of the second period but they continued to struggle as PSB took a 52-25 lead into the half-time intermission.
A better third period display saw Wolves chip a couple of points off the deficit to trail 67-42 going into the fourth quarter, but the visitors finished strongly to complete the win.
Lau-Johnson led Wolves with 23 points, while Jeremy Akpan and Sam Shurety added seven apiece.
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