West Brom Basketball Club kicked off their pre-season with double success after they fought to wins over Worcester University Alumni and the Matt Catlow Selects.
West Brom have undergone a summer of change following their promotion to the West Midlands Premier league, but it hasn’t affected their form ahead of their first season in the top flight.
In their opening pre-season clash, West Brom hosted Worcester University Alumni, a team comprising of a number of former Worcester Wolves players and several trialists.
Starting some of the younger members of the club, West Brom player/coach Liam Sheridan got a solid gauge on some of the more youthful players on his roster in the early proceedings.
However, he did introduce some familiar faces mid-way through the opening period in the likes of last season’s MVP Ezran Little and defensive player of the year Tyrone Lewis.
But in what proved a tight opening encounter, West Brom leaned on new signing Michael Banczer to help lead them to the 86-83 victory – with the forward pouring in 27 points on his debut appearance in green and white.
Following that opening win, the Black Country outfit hosted the Matt Catlow Selects a week later, securing a more comfortable 82-67 victory to lead them to a 2-0 pre-season record.
West Brom were once again energised by their youngsters, most notably Raheem Chadband – who dropped in 14 points on his senior debut, following an impressive season in the youth set-up last campaign.
However, as in the first meeting, it was a senior member of the team who stepped up to lead the scoring for the hosts, with Luke Hatfield finishing the game with 21 points to lead the team.
Following the double success, Sheridan was thrilled with the start to the club’s preparations:
“I think we’re playing great team basketball right now, which is good news for us so early in pre-season” he said.
“The aim for us here is to try and develop strong chemistry moving forward into what is sure to be a very challenging season for us.”
“What really impressed me over these two games so far though is the way our youngsters have performed. I’ve been at them all summer about stepping up and playing a role for our senior side, and they’re starting to do that now.
“Hopefully this form can continue and we can organise another game or two ahead of the season to get the guys firing.”
West Brom get their regular season underway in just over a month’s time, as they travel to face Churchbridge A on the 2nd October in their league opener.
Their home debut in the top flight begins on Friday 13th October at 7:45pm as they host Trojans, who finished playoff runners-up last season.
Check out the club calendar to stay up-to-date with all our teams’ fixtures for the coming season.
Luke Hatfield @Luke_Hatfield
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