For this week’s SBC Game of the Week we will be in Edinburgh on Saturday to watch Pleasance BC take on Glasgow Storm for the first time this season. As both teams sit at the bottom of the Men’s SBC, a win this weekend will be of the utmost importance to either team in getting their campaign back on track.

The visitors this week, Glasgow Storm have had a rough beginning to their season, going 2-7 in their first 9 games and currently sit in last place in the Men’s Division 1. Storm’s biggest issue this season seems to be putting the ball in the basket as they average just 53.6 points per game as a team and have only scored over 70 points once this season in a 63-74 win against Stirling Knights. They have also had their struggles on the defensive end, regularly getting blown out by some of the league’s top sides.

We caught up with Storm coach, Iain MacLean who had the following to say about his team’s performances so far and what the focus needs to be going into Saturday’s fixture;

“To this point our season has been very disappointing with our league position telling the true story, we had hoped to kick on this season again but now find ourselves simply playing for our top flight status. Losing 7 – 8 players from last season’s squad has really impacted on our ability to score but having THIRTY turnovers in our last outing simply means you get blown out.”

“Our game this Saturday is a MUST WIN for us and I’m very hopeful that we will play like it so we need a positive reaction from all involved…rest assured an UGLY win for Storm will be more than acceptable to us all!’’

The home team, Pleasance BC had some success in the Scottish Cup this season in reaching the semi-finals, but have been not so successful in the league as they sit in second-last place with a 3-6 record. Despite being plagued by injuries this season, Pleasance can be a strong team when they want to be and have seen a number of their players put up big numbers already this season. Rokas Stonys and Mateo Soria have been the standout performers so far this season, each averaging 14.4 and 10.1 points per game respectively.

Pleasance head coach, Scott Sanford had this to say ahead of their matchup against Storm;

We are still very much learning and adjusting to this league.  Our league position is around where we thought we would be at this stage,  and are hoping to get the win this Saturday which will give us a good platform to build on for the second half of the season.
Our focus will be to continue building on our recent improvements, create the scoring opportunities we need and to put Storm under pressure.  It will no doubt be a very tough and tight game so hopefully we will come out with the Win.

Pleasance will play host to Glasgow Storm on Saturday 16th of December at 2.20pm at Forrester High School, Edinburgh.

If you’re at the game, let us know by tweeting us @basketballscot and using #SBCGotW