The new year has lit a fire under Oaklands Wolves with their first two games of 2021 bringing them their first wins of the seasons and shooting them up the National Basketball League Division One standings.

The weekend began with a 91-88 success away to Essex Rebels before returning to Oaklands Sportszone to record a 108-101 victory against Leicester Warriors.

Wolves now sit ninth in the table after seven outings.

The win at Essex Sports Arena on Saturday came with a valuable lesson after they almost threw it all away. With a little over two minutes to go they led by 11 but that lead have all but been wiped out inside 90 seconds.

Frantic defence prevented Essex from equalising with four separate efforts before Wolves finally closed the game out.

Jordan Santiago led the scoring with 32 points and 10 rebounds while the returning AJ Roberts picked up 20 points. James Cummings and Jerrell Layne got 10 and nine respectively.

Kane Daley was the star one day later as he poured in 30 points to give Wolves the win over Warriors.

The 18-year-old Oaklands Academy student scored three three-pointers as he led his side's scoring for the first time this season and added six rebounds in 30 minutes of action.

He was given great support by Santiago (24 points) and Roberts, who grabbed 18 rebounds,, in what was a more comfortable success.

Roberts said: "It was a great weekend for us at Oaklands basketball. To go two for two was huge. Now it’s time to shift our focus and get ready for next weekend."

Thomas Baker's side only have the one game this week when they travel to Nottingham to play Bradford Dragons. The game is being played at a neutral venue as the Dragons' Bradford College home is being used as a COVID-19 vaccination centre.

The sides met at Oaklands in early December with the visitors winning 89-85.

Wolves women's side hope to get their WBBL campaign under way on Saturday when they host Newcastle Eagles.