Wolves were unable to collect a third straight win as they went down 102-72 against Bradford Dragons, on Saturday.
In a game staged in Nottingham due to both of Dragons' courts being unavailable, the "home" team's size an experience proved to be too much for the young Wolves side.
With Thomas Baker unavailable, Ibrahim Gariba coached the team for the first time, and Wolves were also without forward James Cummings who picked up a injury in training along with Jerrell Layne and Caleb Tabernar. To add to their woes leading scorer Jordan Santiago left the game with an ankle injury in the third period having already suffered a cut chin earlier in the quarter.
Academy player Kane Daley continued the form he had shown in the win against Leicester Warriors, leading Wolves with 28 points, including three three-pointers, while Santiago added 12 points and seven rebounds. Obi Egbunike finished with eight points despite sitting out the second period due to foul trouble while AJ Roberts added seven points, four assists, three rebounds and as many steals.
Wolves started well with Egbunike and Santiago converting layups before Roberts drained a trey to give them a 7-0 lead but that was as good as it got for them as Dragons replied with a 9-2 run. Ahmed Ketiri put the visitors up by two midway through the first period and Tony Gastaldi-Davies marked his return to the team with a floating jump shot to put his side 13-11 ahead.
Fetske and Santiago exchanged pairs of free-throws to Wolves ahead but Tyme Regent-Bascombe, hit a trey to give Dragons the lead and Chris Mellor's side closed out the quarter on a 12-2 run to lead 25-17 at the first break.
Daley hit a jump shot to open the second period and drained three at the charity stripe after being Cousins but Dragons' size and experience showed as they outscored 19-8 during the rest of the quarter as Sulcs' free-throw gave his side a 46-31 half-time lead.
Lycoudis opened the second half with a triple, and although Egbunike marked his return with a jump shot, Dragons outscored Wolves 32-17 in the period to effectively end the game as a contest. Santiago returned in a fresh vest after cutting his chin, but he landed badly later in the period and left the game as his side trailed 78-48 at the final break.
Daley opened the fourth period scoring, and Gariba used the quarter to give his remaining nine players court time with point guard Tom Hughes hitting a couple of nice jump shots as the teams wrapped up the game by sharing 48 points in the final stanza.
Dragons were led by Ricky Fetske's 25 point, 16 rebound double-double, while Rihards Sulcs added 21 points and Great Osobor also had a double-double with 18 points and 13 boards.
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