Rhinos 2nd team took the long trip north to Linwood near Glasgow to play the fifth game of their season against an experienced and physical West of Scotland team.

This was going to be one of The Rhinos’ toughest games of the season and knew they would have to play well if they were to stay unbeaten.

They couldn’t have wished for a better start as captain Darren Peasley scored the first six points of the game to give Rhinos a 6 – 0 lead.

The man to watch from the West of Scotland (WOS) was Gary Davidson, and he scored his first baskets of the game swishing two consecutive three pointers and then a two pointer to give his team the advantage at 8 – 6.

However, Rhinos managed to get their noses back infront before the end of the quarter with Peasley hitting 12 personal as the scoreboard read 18 – 15 to the away side.

The 2nd quarter saw the WOS focus in on picking up the effective Peasley.

This seemed to stop the flow of baskets for Rhinos temporarily, so Coach Mat Foden decided to put a full court press on to try to stop the opponents scoring and to get some momentum back into his team – it had the opposite effect.

West of Scotland broke the press and scored three lay-ups to regain the lead. Rhinos called a time-out and adjusted the press slightly.

This time it had the desired effect. Rhinos managed to get back their 3 point margin from the first quarter and go into the half-time break leading 30 – 27.

The threat from The Rhinos was still coming from inside the key with Peasley, Tom Budd, and Sally Wager all finding space, so the WOS decided to cut that space off and leave Rhinos to shoot the outside shot if they wanted.

Guard Tom Docherty took advantage of that and continually found a now open Kyle Marsh who knocked down shot after shot. With the press still on, WOS were forced into a couple of turnovers and Rhinos started to pull away.

Marsh scored 16 points personal as they won the quarter 25 – 12 to lead 55 – 39.

With The Rhinos holding a sixteen point lead, the impressive Davidson was substituted for the WOS to give some of their youngsters court-time.

The teams traded basket for basket, with Marsh scoring another eight points for Rhinos, as they won the final period 16 – 14 and took the game 71 – 53.

It was a real team performance from The Rhinos and every player in the squad did a great job both when they were on-court and with their support from the bench.

Scorers: Rhinos: Marsh 34, Peasley 18, Wager 8, Budd 7, Docherty 4.

WOS: Davidson 20, Alexander 8, Lewis 8, Murphy 8, McDougall 7, Brocket 2.

Rhinos travel to Wrexham next weekend to take on the newly promoted Celtic Warriors.