West Brom Basketball Club under orders to keep the energy levels high
West Brom Basketball Club's player/coach Liam Sheridan has called for more energy from his team, after their dominant win over Stoke Shooters was followed by a disappointing defeat to Birmingham Mets.
The George Salters Academy based side shot out of the blocks against Stoke, holding the visitors to just two points in the opening quarter whilst pouring in 18 of their own.
That lead proved insurmountable for the Staffordshire outfit, who despite rallying in the second half ultimately failed to threaten the lead built by the Black Country side, with the game ending 78-56.
West Brom were able to lean once again on forward Michal Banczer, who was matched by second-year guard Luke Hatfield as they combined for 54 points in the contest.
The good work from the clash with Stoke wasn't replicated against the Mets however, with West Brom struggling to get to grips defensively, falling to a 114-90 loss in Sutton Coldfield.
Banczer once again led the scoring with 26, while Ezran Little and Adam Dawson each added 17 in the losing effort.
Sheridan was disappointed to see his team show such inconsistency between games, and called on his players to stick to their own mantra when travelling to face their opponents.
"The first quarter against Stoke was arguable the best basketball we've played this season, particularly defensively." he said.
"Despite not having a huge scoring output, keeping any team in this league to just two points in a quarter is a great defensive effort.
"Second half I think complacency crept in. But against Mets we started the game in their style, not ours and as a result found ourselves down big early on.
"There were moments in the game where we went on some runs, but if we're to compete in this league we have to tighten up in games like this.
"As a team we need to start games with higher energy and effort, and then maintain that over the entire 40 minutes. The bottom line is that our defensive effort and execution has to improve.
"If you're going to concede over 100 points in a game, you're always going to find it tough - and that's exactly what happened against Birmingham."
West Brom have a week off before they face Northwood Valiants in the Rosebowl competition - which features a handicap scoring system.
Sheridan's side will begin the game 68 points down against their division three opponents, offering a sizeable mountain to climb if they hope to progress to the quarter-finals of the cup competition.
