Hard work pays off after third win on bounce

Basketball Ayr Storm U16 men made it three wins out of three in a glory five days.

They started with a back- to- back fixture day in the Scottish Basketball Championship U16m div3, travelling to St Andrews High in Glasgow to face Boroughmuir Blaze and then City of Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, Blaze followed their sat- nav to a school of the same name in Kirkcaldy which meant they arrived an hour late and Ayr were awarded a 20- 0 win.

In the remaining time, the teams played two periods of basketball with a running clock with Storm winning by 25 points.

It was then straight into the game with City of Edinburgh where Ayr made a sluggish start before recovering to win 73- 52.

A switch in offense created more space and suddenly a four point deficit was turned to a 17- 8 lead at the end of P1.

A short chat from coach Danny Gibbons got the boys re- focused and they dominated the rest of the half winning P2 22- 5.

This meant alternate lines could be tried in P3 ( 18- 24) and P4 ( 16- 15) to stretch the boys rather than keep going for a high score.

The win leaves Ayr mid table with W3 L3 record in the national league. Scorers: P Gibbons 19pts, G Lorimer 18, D Mexon 18, H Kerr 12, L Paterson , N Bradley 2, B Wigton 2.

Two days later it was back to Strathclyde League action with a 83- 36 win over North Lanarkshire Titans to Kyle Academy.

The sides were well matched physically so Ayr started with a taller team than normal and Gabriel Lorimer showed it was the right choice scoring six of Ayr’s opening points.

Titans were hanging in so a switch to a more balanced Ayr team and a full court man defense was made with stunning results.

Paul Gibbons and Jay Kennedy found space to drive to the basket and help win P1 20: 10. The press was used again in P2 to great effect and Lee McKay and Harry Kerr were the ones to find the baskets as Ayr won the period 25- 7 for a 28 point half- time lead.

For the second half, the decision was taken to focus on defense under the basket and Storm went on to win P3 15: 12 and P4 23: 7 with all 12 squad members contributing.

Storm: P Gibbons 17pts, G Lorimer 14pts, L McKay 14pts, D Mexson 11pts, J Kennedy 9pts, B Wigton 6pts, H Kerr 5pts, C Dryburgh 5pts, C Mackay 2pts, L Paterson, B Wheeler, N Bradley

Coach Danny Gibbons said: “The team have been working hard in training and we got our rewards.

“We now have at least three different scoring threats in each game which makes it harder for opponents to shut us down compared to sides that rely on one player.”

Next up is a tough trip to Aberdeen to face the league’s top two Fraserburgh and Inverness in back- to back fixtures.