Saturday 6th March
Wolves' senior men recorded their biggest win of the season as they produced a dominant performance to return from Nottingham Hoods with a 93-75 victory.
Thomas Baker's team scored the first seven points of the game and led from tip-to-buzzer as they moved up to 12th spot, and crucially they now have the head-to-head decider against the Hoods if the sides finish level.
Jordan Santiago led Wolves with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals before fouling out on arguable technical and offensive calls. AJ Roberts had a 14 point, 13 rebound double-double, adding six assists, three steals and a couple of blocks to keep him in the top three in the division in the latter category. Kane Daley had 16 points and seven boards, while Obi Egbunike was limited to 20 minutes of action due to foul trouble but finished with a 14 point, ten rebound double-double.
Hoods were led by Dalaney Powell's 25 points and seven rebounds, with Matt Ward-Hibbert adding 17 points and five assists while Victor Olerin was held to four rebounds but added 14 points.
Egbunike opened the scoring and Santiago doubled the lead before Daley's triple capped a perfect start. The baskets continued to drop as Daley hit another trey and Nick Powdrill also scored from downtown before Roberts' lay-up made it 22-11 after just five minutes play.
That pace couldn't continue, but Egbunike sent Wolves into the first break 27-19 ahead before Santiago made it a double-digit game with the first score of the second period. Hoods hit back as Ward-Hibbert capped a 7-0 run to reduce the lead to 29-26.
It was a five point game midway through the quarter but it was Daley's steal and dunk that sparked the run which put Wolves in the driving seat. Santiago hit a pair of triples and two jump shots in a 20-5 run with Amed Ketiri wrapping up the scoring with a close range effort after Daley had rebounded Roberts' missed shot to send the visitors into the locker room 55-35 ahead.
Ray Akpofure opened the second half scoring with a pair of jump shots and Seth Wylie extended the lead to 25 from downtown. Roberts kept the score about 20 with three minutes of the third period remaining and Daley scored Wolves' final five points of the quarter as they went into the final break 78-55 ahead.
Hoods scored the first five points of the fourth period before Santiago got Wolves off the mark. The home team cut the lead to 15 with seven minutes on the clock after Santiago had been T'd for allegedly flopping, but Wylie hit a triple.
Six straight Egbunike points effectively sealed the win and Akpofure made it a 20 point game again with under three minutes remaining to wrap things up.
Sunday 7th March
A terrible first quarter saw Wolves' men go down 96-75 at Barking Abbey on Sunday afternoon.
Thomas Baker's team were outscored 34-7 in the opening period and despite "winning" 68-64 in the rest of the game, they had given themselves far too much to do as they failed to build on the previous day's win at Nottingham.
The hosts seemed unable to miss during that first period, hitting seven of their ten three pointers with Edrick Okunda hitting five from downtown as he racked up 20 points before the opening break, going on to finish with a game-high 30 points.
Only AJ Roberts and Jordan Santiago managed to score field goals in the opening quarter, Wolves not helping themselves by missing three of their six foul shots.
Santiago opened the second period scoring and Kane Daley hit a triple, and a pair of Roberts free-throws took the margin under 20 midway through the quarter. But despite Ahmed Ketiri's late lay-up, Wolves were only able to chip two points off the deficit as they went into the locker room 55-30 down.
A Santiago trey opened the second half scoring for Wolves but it wasn't until the second five minutes of the third period as Santiago's and-one sparked a 22-11 run capped by a buzzer beater from the American guard to trim the hosts' lead to 81-61 at the final break.
Toby Gastaldi-Davies hit the first basket of the fourth quarter but Santiago fouled out on a technical after a strange travelling call.
Roberts converted Tom Hughes' assist to make it a 17-point game after 90 seconds of the period, but the closest the visitors came was at 86-71 with 3:31 on the clock when he hit all three free-throws after former Leopard Will Ashby had emulated Santiago to leave the game.
Santiago drained four of his five three point attempts on the way to a team-high 29 points, while Roberts finished with an 18 point, 14 rebound double-double, adding six assists and three steals along with three blocks which puts him top of the Division One charts in the latter category.
Gastaldi-Davis finished with 11 points, while Abbey's Flynn Boardman-Raffett missed a triple-double by a rebound having scored 12 points and dished out 11 assists.
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