CORNER BROOK Ryan Rose was a thorn in the side of Ready Electric on Wednesday night.
The Grenfell Warriors player put up 30 points in a 91-69 triumph over the electric company from College of the North Atlantic during the Corner Brook Men’s Basketball League season opener at the campus gymnasium.
It isn’t the first time the two sides have clashed — they played an exhibition game last week that the Warriors also claimed.
“We knew they had a couple of good players in Ben (Maynard) and Richie (Barry),” said Warriors’ Mark Strickland. “They’ve got some good scorers, but we’ve got a lot more players than them, so we had fresher legs than them all game.”
Strickland, now in his third year as a Warrior, believes this year’s squad has the depth to succeed compared to past editions of the squad.
“The team looks a lot better this year,” he said.
He said his team’s ability to push the ball down the floor was a key part of the win.
“That was it really,” he said, adding that not everything was flawless. “We need to do a better job of rebounding.”
For the electric company, it was another chance for the group to familiarize themselves with each other at the high-tempo speed of a legitimate game.
“We played a few scrap games to see what we actually got together,” said Eric Pinsten. “But this was very helpful.
“We knew what we’ve got to work on now,” he added. “We’ll come back even better and stronger.”
Defence is the No. 1 priority for the group, said Pinsten, but with so many players who have never competed together before, nothing will come easy — or quickly.
“We’ve got guys from Labrador, from (Corner Brook), Deer Lake, across the bay,” said Pinsten, a native of Port Saunders. “We all just basically got together.”
THE RUNDOWN
Top scorers:
Warriors 91
Ryan Rose 30
Mark Strickland 13
Hamza Ballouck 11
Electric 69
Ben Maynard 22
Josh Lake 11
Richard Barry 7
