Storm go down and out with a real fight

U16s end in mid- table spot

Basketball Ay r S to r m U 1 6 m e n finished Scottish Basketball Championship Division Three in mid- table.

An injury and illness crisis left them with only five fit starters for a double header at the new national performance centre, Oriam, in Edinburgh.

First was a tough game against a taller East Lothian Dragons who out- rebounded Ayr at both ends of the court. This gave Dragons lots of second and even third chance shots, while Ayr were limited to their first time and picked up few second chances in a 60- 24 defeat.

Storm: P Gibbons ( 18pts), B Wigton ( 4), B Wheeler ( 2), L Paterson, H Kerr.

Forty- five minutes Storm were back on court to face a full strength Tayside Musketeers.

The boys found their second wind and with a pair of threes and strong drives to the basket from captain Paul Gibbons, who was supported by mid range shots from Ben Wigton, they won the first period 15- 12.

With 12 players available, Tayside increased the tempo in P2 and won it by six points to lead by three at the break.

Coach Danny Gibbons encouraged his side to give it one last push in P3 to see if they could steal a win.

Harry Kerr, Ben Wheeler and Luke Paterson stepped up their defence and this let them feed the ball to Paul Gibbons ( 28pts) who went on to score all Storm’s 13 points in P3 and cut the gap going into the final period.

Ayr were still in the game with a minute to go, but the five players were run out the game in the final seconds and Tayside won 51- 43.

Storm: P Gibbons ( 28pts), B Wigton ( 7), B Wheeler ( 4), L Paterson ( 2), H Kerr ( 2),

Coach Danny Gibbons said: “The five boys were awesome and unfortunate not to get the win in the second game.

“It was great to see them recognise how they could pace their game and still compete with a full strength squad.

“While we finished 10th in the 17 team league, all players have made great progress, have improved as a team and can look forward to another season in the Scottish national leagues, for some at U16m while a few will move on to U18 men.”