Dugites fire for second-half win

The newly promoted Dugites have shocked the Wolves with a convincing 14-point win in round 1 of the Albany Basketball Association men’s A-grade competition at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre on Tuesday night.

Wolves are expected to be in finals contention having recruited strongly in the off-season to bring in young talents John Murray and Matt Leary.

Leary didn’t play the season opener, and the Dugites outplayed Wolves convincingly in the second half to record a 49-35 win.

Wolves’ outside shooting was on display early in the contest as Keanu Weeden scored from beyond the arc twice, with Murray chipping in too, which took Wolves to a five-point lead 10 minutes into the half.

Dugites worked their way back into the game with a 7-0 run and went into the break with a slim lead.

After failing to penetrate regularly in the first half, Dugites came out a different side in the second half and showed a willingness to use their big men down low.

This change in their game style led to numerous easy baskets as Wolves’ defence came unstuck, too often collapsing on the penetrating player which left others free.

An 8-0 run gave Dugites a 34-23 lead with 11 minutes left and Wolves never found a way back into the game.

Jake Welshman and Jacob Hobbs top-scored for Dugites with 10 points each, while Murray had 11 points on the game with Stuart Myers chipping in with eight.

Dugites have been promoted to A-grade after winning the B1 league for the past two seasons and will take plenty of confidence out of their opening round victory.

Barking Owls downed Ambassadors by four points after a fast finish from Ambassadors brought some late excitement into the game. Owls controlled the contest for the most part, before a Matt Barber three-pointer brought Ambassadors to within four points with 40 seconds left.

Owls maintained possession for the final 40 seconds to come away with the win. Joel Bellinger-Brown had 17 points and Justin Benson scored 16 for Owls and Caleb Carmen provided plenty of offence for Ambassadors to finish with 15 points. Tigers beat Crabs 36-27 in the other round 1 fixture.