Oaklands Wolves beat Ipswich with thrilling buzzer beater

Wolves had forced a stop at the other end to give them the ball with under two seconds on the clock, and Matthews received the ball at half court from Bill Irvine before draining a massive triple from well outside the three-point line to seal the 91-88 victory.

The young Wolves have had a tough season in NBL Division Two South, but in their penultimate game of the campaign they produced probably their best basketball of the year, pouring in 33 first period points and recovering from a poor third period to spark wild celebrations at the end.

Captain La'Quarne Sayers, who even at 21 is Wolves' most senior player, followed his 43 points in November's loss in Ipswich with a 33-point, five assist, four rebound display.

Irvine had four assists and three boards to go with his 19 points while Tega Agbede had 12 points, three assists and as many rebounds.

Matthews meanwhile bagged another seven points to which he added four assists.

A 56-43 half-time lead was all but wiped out in the third quarter.

The fourth period was nip and tuck throughout and Lee Hodges turned the ball over with 26 seconds on the clock as Wolves coach Faith Karahan called a timeout.

Sayers also turned the ball over but Fleming missed with a jump shot to set up the grandstand finish.

Wolves will look to wrap up the season in similar style when they host Westminster Warriors, tip-off 6pm, with tickets priced just £1 each from http://www.oaklandsbasketball.com.

It was also a tight game at Nottingham, but Wolves' women couldn't make it a winning day as they were edged out 85-80 by the hometown Wildcats in the WBBL.

After leading 25-18 at the first break a Wolves team still missing centre Amy West never really found their rhythm again as the visitors cut that advantage to one point at half-time before taking a 61-57 lead into the final quarter.

The game looked over with 2:13 on the clock as Wildcats opened an 82-70 advantage, but triples from Ri Thomson and Jorjah Smith made it a four point game before Shaq Wade's lay-up halved that deficit with 30 seconds on the clock.

But that was as close as Lee Ryan's team came as they were forced to foul to stop the clock, and Nottingham wrapped up the win at the foul line.

Wade led Wolves with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists while Thompson added five assists and as many rebounds to her 18 points.

In West's absence, Fabienne Zere finished with 10 points.

Wolves academy side own the Hertfordshire bragging rights in WNBL Division Two South as as they completed a double over Stevenage Royals with a 61-29 victory, having also beaten Hemel Storm home and away

Claire Abbott's team produced a strong second half to limit the visitors to just five points.

Abbott gave all of her roster court time in the first half as they prepare for their academy League play-off at Manchester on Wednesday before they took control after the break and half Royals scoreless for more than 11 minutes at one stage.

Wolves led 19-9 at the first break but were pegged back to 28-24 at half-time.

They took a double-digit lead into the final break after an 11-3 third period before wrapping things up with a 22-2 final frame.

Caitlin Ryan again led the scoring with 11 points, adding eight steals, seven assists and four rebounds, while Amye Swinney contributed 10 points and four boards.

Ella Brown chipped in with eight points while Cleo Lewis-Gayle marked her return from injury with eight rebounds and six points.

Wolves D3 men also produced an encouraging performance before losing 104-87 against UAE Panthers.

Captain Dan Kostadinov led by example with six triples on his way to a 24 point, six rebound game, while Irvine completed a good weekend with 30 points and four assists.

Daren Rohi also had 24 points and pulled down a massive 15 rebounds for an impressive double-double.

After a slow start Wolves recovered to trail only 22-19 at the first break but the visitors pulled away to lead 53-43 at half-time and wrapped up the win with 21-20 third quarter and a 30-24 final frame.

The U12 girls of Oaklands Wolves. Picture: WOLVES BALL (Image: Oaklands Wolves Basketball)

Wolves U16 girls produced a fantastic fourth period comeback to record a 52-49 victory at Reading Rockets.

Under stand-in coach George Walker, Wolves outscored the hosts 22-8 in the final frame to record their second win of the season against the Rockets.

The visitors led 14-11 at the first break before Rockets fought back to lead 28-26 at half-time, and the game looked over as they took a 41-30 advantage into the final quarter.

But eight Jane Yu points and six from Elise Beardsworth in the last quarter sparked the visitors as they scored 22 of the first 26 points in the period to collect the win.

Eunice Towong finished with 16 points, with Yu adding 11 and Beardsworth eight.

There was also success for the U12 girls as they wrapped up their debut NBL season with a 51-43 home victory against Solent Kestrels.

Against a side who had comfortably beaten they on the south coast when they met earlier in the season, Wolves trailed 12-9 at the first break and were 25-23 down at half-time.

But they scored the first 13 points of the third period to take control, going into the final break 40-29 ahead and never looked in trouble as they closed out their sixth win of the campaign. 

Rose Marsh led the way with 19 points while Francesca Scott had eight points and 12 steals.

The U14 girls couldn't complete a hat-trick as a side depleted by U-16 call-ups went down 85-35 at Solent.

Wolves trailed 22-11 at the first break and it was all over by half-time as the hosts led 41-14.

The U14 boys of Oaklands Wolves. Picture: WOLVES BALL (Image: Oaklands Wolves Basketball)

The U14 boys continued their excellent season with an 86-59 victory against London Thunder as they continue their push for a high seeding in the NBL play-offs. 

They never looked back after a 26-15 first period, extending the lead to 48-25 before outscoring the visitors 16-14 in the third period and 22-16 in the fourth.  

Liam Schertel led the way with 25 points and five rebounds while Tituoan Vimeux had three triples in his 16 points, also adding five boards. 

Sam McRee finished with 12 points and eight boards while Albert Dye had nine points four rebounds.   

Wolves U12 boys also chalked up another win as they defeated Cambridge Cats 75-50.

Michael Ball's side shaded the first period 16-12 before blowing the game open in the second quarter to go into the half-time break 44-23 ahead. 

Manuel Gracia-Peris had another big game with 28 points, Alex Cofone adding 16 and Tristan Ball 11 as Wolves won each of the final two periods by two points.

The boys' development teams in the conferences again found older opposition too tough as the U15s went down 99-55 at home against West Herts U16 III while the U-13s were beaten 67-34 by high-flying Bedford Thunder U-14.

Warriors III, who are having a much better season than their club's second team and have beaten them in both league encounters, never looked back after rushing into a 30-15 first-period lead. 

La'Quarne Sayers' team stopped the rot in the second period to trail 50-34 at half-time before the visitors wrapped up the win with a 21-13 third period and a 28-8 fourth.

Seth Coetzee had a big double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds, while Nestor Sharma added 11 points, Ethan Chung had four rebounds to go with his seven points and Billy Harmer had six points, as many assists, four rebounds and three steals.

The U13s saw Bedford do most of the damage in the third period as they outscored them 24-7.

Wolves had held Thunder to 17-14 at the first break and 33-25 at half-time, and the hosts wrapped up the win with a 10-2 final frame. 

Rocky Starr led George Walker's team with ten points, while Ethan Fraser-Evans and Harry Regan added six apiece.