Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
St. George's Orane Campbell (centre) tries to protect the ball from St. Andrew Technical's Jason Brown (third left), while other players Otis Brown, Shamual Brown and Conroy Wright of St. Andrew Technical look on.At far left is Orane's teammate Lloyd Hill, in action from the KFC-sponsored ISSA High School Basketball encounter at St George's College on Tuesday. St. George's won 72-36. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE DENHAM Town Wizards shot their 2005-2006 KFC/bMobile-sponsored National Basketball League (NBL) pre-season off in impressive fashion when they trounced Blazing Panthers 68-33 at Tivoli Gardens hard court on Tuesday night.
The Wizards, who were knocked off at the quarter-final stage by 2004 champions Urban Knights last season, were led in scoring by Howard Clarke who scored 13 points.
His team, which basically flew out of the gate, led wire-to-wire in the encounter and were never really pushed by a young Panthers team.
For new coach Steve Fray the importance of getting the pre-season off to a good start cannot be understated.
STRAIN
"I can't explain how paramount it is for my team, having just one official game by JABA (Jamaica Amateur Basketball Association) has really put a lot of strain on us. I would have liked to see four or five per team as in previous years," he commented.
"The pre-season gives you a chance to exercise and appreciate what you have been working on in the last couple of months, it's an experimental stage, especially for new players coming into the squad," he explained.
KEPT BUSY
However, the Wizards have kept themselves busy with unofficial practice matches and Fray credits a major part of the ease with which the team won to a tough match that they lost by two points against Urban Knights on Sunday. In that game, they rallied from 24 points down at half-time.
"That result really strengthened our resolve and increased our confidence and that carried over into our pre-season game," he said.
NBL pre-season play will continue today when the defending champions St. George's Slayers travel to the Montego Bay Cricket club to face the recently promoted MoBay Storms. The season is officially scheduled to begin on Saturday, January 28.
