TAMWORTH Thunderbolts fell into early trouble and never recovered when they started their Australian Under 14 Boys’ Basketball Club Championships with a 92-53 loss to the Northern Tasmanian Foresters in Perth yesterday afternoon.
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It was a disappointing result for the team struck down by three major injuries before they left and with a depleted roster of eight for yesterday’s game.
Thunderbolt coach Neil Wood is hoping his side can bounce back today when they play Victorian side Casey Cavaliers at 9.30am (local time) and then Cairns Marlins at 4.30pm.
“We got into early foul trouble and that was really the game,” Wood said.
“When you don’t have the depth of numbers you cannot get into foul trouble and we just couldn’t stick with them.”
Losing two key players in Ben Pearce (19pts) and Ryan Bath before half-time with five fouls apiece was a major blow.
“Hopefully we’ll come away with better results tomorrow but I’m not expecting it to be easy,” Wood said.
The Thunderbolts play the other two sides in their pool today in what will be a long, tough second day.
NORTHERN TASMANIA FORESTERS 92 (J Lowe 23, J Hutchinson 14, P Stancombe 14, S Deans 13, T McShane 10, A Faulkner 6, S Alastair-McKendrick 5, J Harwood-Besanvalle 3, J Simpson 2, L Bracey 2) d TAMWORTH THUNDERBOLTS 53 (Ben Pearce 19, Nathan Clark 8, Lachlan Damir 9, William Meyers 8, Connor Watt 7, Tom Sheppard 2).
