By Charmaine Austin, Staff ReporterBAHAMIAN division one team Wolverines, runners-up in their local league, opened their three-match Jamaica tour on a winning note, defeating local champions Tivoli All Stars 71-61 Friday night.
A spectacular start paved the way for their victory and they never relinquished the lead, registering quarterly scores of 21-13, 39-30 and 53-47.
Regardless of the final score though, winning was what was most important to the visitors and it left coach Mario Bowleg and the players in an upbeat mood as they look forward to achieving the objectives of their tour.
"With our league starting next week, our objective was to come here and get some good practice. We were not too concerned with the score. As long as we won. We played a good team and we expected it to be close.
"Our other objective is to build a good relationship with the Jamaica Basketball Association so that from time to time we may have exchange practice games. This is good for the players and the sport," he said.
Depleted Tivoli meanwhile used the game as a one-off practice session.
Coach Dennis Hutchinson explained that with it being the off season for the local league, the squad was not in training.
A number of new faces were in last night's line-up and will be seen in the new season as three of the All Stars' top players Richard Andrews, Ramon Gayle and David Martin are away on basketball scholarships.
"We're not in training right now and trust me, if Tivoli was better structured right now, they (Wolverines) couldn't beat us. It was difficult for us to execute at our usual high standard for a number of reasons but still we managed to put on a decent performance," Hutchinson said.
Andre Wright topscored for Tivoli with 20 points while for Wolverines it was Jeremy Hutchinson with 20 points and 16 rebounds followed by Mario Rickstock with 15 points and seven rebounds.
The Wolverines will end their tour with a game against a Jamaica Select team at the Stadium Courts this evening.
