Storm keep destiny in their own hands
Ayr Storm kept their SLBA Men Division Two title chase in their own hands with a 61- 53 win over Glasgow Fever.
Big shots by Sam Wallace, Dan Bajwoluk and Tony LowMcCrae left the visitors chasing shadows early on.
Strong defense and blocking from Alan Deans and Martin Graham forced Fever to try the long range shot which wasn’t working as Ayr raced 10 points ahead.
Fever weren’t going to give up the title race easily and in P2 a switch to use their bigs inside started to pay.
Ayr’s Graham picked up some troublesome fouls leading to coach Steve Moug needing to switch the D about.
U18m player Jordi Sergio came off the bench with immediate impact – hustling to win rebounds at both ends and putting away a confidenceboosting basket.
The final period saw Fever go ahead for the first time, but Graham returned to the court and made two big shots to open a gap.
Into the final minute and Ayr still ahead, Fever were looking to stop the clock with tactical fouls but with a foul count of zero ( versus six on Ayr) it meant a lot of time burn- off before Ayr went to the line and a chance for Fever to steal possession.
Great patience helped run the clock down and secure the win and keep the challenge in their own hands. Fever now need to rely on shocks by other teams against both Ayr and Renfrew.
Ayr: Dan Bajwoluk ( 13pts) Tony Low- McCrae ( 12) Sam Wallace ( 11) Martin Graham ( 8) Jordi Sergio ( 5) Al Deans ( 4) Connor McQuade ( 4) Fil Djorjvic ( 2) Billy Reid ( 2) Stevie Moug.
The U18men beat North Lanarkshire Chiefs 87- 85 away in Scottish Basketball Championship U18men Division 2.
In the final seconds, Chiefs put up a buzzer beater they thought had won but officials decided a foot was on the line and it was just a tying two- point shot, not a three.
The teams went into overtime where the earlier foul count took its toll and Ayr were down to just four players on court for the close out.
This didn’t stop Douglas Bloomfield, with Chiefs forcing Ayr to shoot from distance. He hit two big threes to take the lead and steal the win.
Team: J Sergio ( 32pts), L Dunbar ( 20), J Allen ( 13), D Bloomfield ( 10), A Nair ( 8), J McMillan ( 2), G Lorimer ( 2). For coach Morrison, the only downside was an injury to Jack Allen that could see him out for the rest of the season. Storm men’s 2nd team picked up their first win this season in SLBA Divisoin 4 when they beat Dunoon Lions 57- 55 at Belmont Academy.
Achraf Lamiri used the space to rack up eight points in the first period which they won 14- 10.
Lions’ Kivanc Altin, last season’s Division 4 top scorer, helped Dunoon win P2 8: 13.
The third period saw new signing, UWS student Jonas Dotzer, hit three three pointers in a row deep from the corner for a five- point lead.
Reaching the final 20 seconds at 55- 55, coach Kevan McCrorie called a time- out and set up a play to go for the winning basket, while ensuring no time left for Dunoon to steal a win.
A first illegal dribble call threw plans out the window and Dunoon had the chance for the final shot of normal time.
From the inbound play, Dotzer made the interception and broke to the other end to make the layup with five seconds left.
Martin Henderson forced a steal and dribbled the remaining time to give the men a first win.
Team: A Lamiri ( 21 pts), J Dotzer ( 16), V Konamme ( 6), M Henderson ( 4), D Matthewson ( 4), C Bain ( 2), D Gibbons ( 2), K McCrorie, I McGregor.