Words courtesy of SBL Media 

In the Battle of Joondalup II, a sold out house at Joondalup Basketball Stadium saw the Joondalup Wolves put in a dominant showing, beating the Stirling Senators 84-54 and helping the Wolfpack to retian the Merv Day Perpetual Shield. 

On Saturday night, almost 700 people were jampacked into the building for the battle of two teams around the top four mark with the Wolves hosting the Senators.

The Wolfpack was unveiling new import Ryan WRIGHT and he helped the home team to deliver a remarkable start in terms of its dominance.

The Wolves raced to a 13-1 start to the game and still led 21-4 by quarter-time. The Senators missed their first 19 field goals in the opening 11 minutes until Cody Ellis nailed a three a minute into the second period.

Stirling actually scored first with a free-throw to big man Drew Naymick. But Wright hit the next three points on debut for the Wolfpack as they went on a 13-0 run.

They were never threatened from there going on to lead by as much as 31 points before ending up winning by 30 in the finish after both teams emptied their benches down the stretch.

Wright had a tremendously impressive debut for Joondalup with the Canadian import delivering 17 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes.

Perhaps most importantly is what he does for his teammates. By being a strong presence in the interior, it makes the job for fellow bigs Rob HUNTINGTON and Damian MATACZ, and then shooters like Trian ILIADIS and Seb SALINAS all the harder to shut down for the opposition.

Salinas also finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Wolfpack while nailing 5-of-9 from downtown.

Iliadis added 14 points and six assists with Jordan WELLSTEED contributing eight points, Huntington eight, Rhys SMYTH six and Ben IRONMONGER six.

Wolfpack coach Ben ETTRIDGE had got his team ready for the arrival of Wright and couldn’t have been happier with how they looked with him in the line-up.

“We made a pretty strong focus this week to not let Cody and the likes get off the chain as they did early last week,” Ettridge said.

“I think in a way us adding a new player made everyone sharpen up a bit and focus on our communication and rotations to help the new guy get involved, and that showed in that first half. We were pretty rock solid in everything that we did.

“When we knew Ryan was the one and that he was coming, we started Damo the last two games to put Robbie at that four spot and just change our dynamics. Damo did a phenomenal job and played himself into a bit of form, and I think that made that transition easier for the guys as well.

“We’ve added different players halfway through the season before and it’s something they can adjust to quite well. That’s a sign of the nucleus having been together for the last four or five years.”

It was a night to forget for the Senators with Josh Throns top-scoring with 11 points.

Naymick finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots but no other Stirling player scored more than seven points.