Words courtesy of freelance Sports Media Consultant James O'Donohue

 

The Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves have opened their 2018 finals campaign in impressive style, blitzing the Willetton Tigers 102-66 at HBF Arena on Saturday night to take a 1-0 lead in their quarter-final series before a huge 700 person home crowd.

The Wolves looked like a team wanting to make a statement, and they stamped their authority over the contest from the opening tip, taking a 24-12 lead by quarter-time.

Willetton held their own in an even second quarter, but the Wolves went up a gear after half-time, blowing the Tigers away with a 29-11 third quarter to effectively put the game beyond reach.

Tigers coach Stephen Black was furious with the referees following some questionable no-calls for goal-tending in the third quarter, and even earned himself a technical foul to add to his team’s misery, but by that point the damage had already been done.

The margin was so lopsided by the fourth quarter that both teams played large chunks of it with their reserves, as both sides shifted their focus to game two.

Wolves Star American Brian Sullivan caused real headaches for Willetton, he led the Wolves in scoring with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting, consistently knocking down tough three-pointers (5-of-7) despite the Tigers best efforts to contain him.

Fellow Import Jalen Billups provided a strong inside target and had another good game with 21 points and eight rebounds. Trian Iliadis added 16 points while Robbie Huntingdon and Jordan Wellsteed had 11 and 9 points each.

Willetton’s scoring came from Jay Bowie and Damien Scott who had 23 and 20 points each, but the Tigers supporting cast generally struggled to make their shots, with Hayden Noordhoek the only other to reach double figures with 10 points.

Tigers captain Kyle Armour and import Badou Diagne were both held to just two points each after getting into foul trouble and only playing around 20 minutes each.

The Wolves shooting was a big factor in the win, shooting 38-of-70 from the field (54%) while the Tigers only shot 27-of-65 (41%).

Wolves Head Coach Ben Ettridge spoke afterwards about what he felt set his team up for victory.

“Execution of the game plan. We’ve watched them pretty closely so we knew we had to contain Scotty and Bowie, and we did that, and at the other end it was good to see Brian, Trian and Jalen all putting the ball in the hole, so we’re very happy.”

“We did a really good job containing their transition, and contained their offensive boards as well. We kept them off the glass so there wasn’t any easy ones, and there was no second-chance points.” Ettridge said.

Following a past month that saw the Wolves win some big games, but also drop a couple at home, Ettridge said it was pleasing to kick-start the playoffs in good form.

“I think that’s what the last four weeks did. We had our wake-up call, and then we’ve really started to put some things together and learnt a lot in that patch, so it puts us in good stead for the next four weeks hopefully” Ettridge said.

Game two will be at Willetton Basketball Stadium next weekend and the Wolves will be looking to wrap the series up 2-0, while the Tigers will be hoping to bounce back on their home floor and force the series back to Joondalup for a decider at midday on the Sunday (TBD).