AYR Storm's U16 men showed they have earned their place in SBC (Scottish Basketball Championship) U16 Men Division Two with a strong performance in their debut match. The last two seasons, the team have been competing in the central venue-based SBC Division Three - but are now in the home-away based Division Two and started with an away game to face Perth Phoenix.

The 12-player squad had just five players who are in their second season at this age group, with the other seven all having moved up in the summer from U14 level. A great pre-season focussed on training together rather than friendly matches showed its benefits with the Ayr side hitting the road at speed and blowing the home side away in the opening period.

Scoring threats from four of the veterans at this level - Gabriel Lorimer inside, Paul Gibbons (captain) outside, both Mathew Keegan and Matthew Morrison on the drive and the break - made this new look squad very hard to defend against as Phoenix did not know who to double team.

Great defensive work by all the Ayr players meant Phoenix only managed seven points in the opening period, while Ayr racked up 25.

This strong Period One meant coach Danny Gibbons could introduce some of the debut players earlier than planned - and they took the chance and showed they were there to fight for court time. Isaac Tomba made an instant impact driving to the basket and making the score, then made multiple assists for his team mates. The second period was tighter but still went Ayr's way 13:17.

In fact Ayr won all four periods - they took Period Three 18:15 and Period Four 19:12 to give a great road trip result Perth Phoenix 47 Ayr Storm 79. It is a long season at a higher level but the team showed they are ready to learn and develop as a squad over the season.

Coach Danny Gibbons could not have asked for any more from his side. "I was really pleased that everyone realised the level they were now playing at and how hard they had to work on defence and protecting the ball when we had possession. Most pleasing was four players with double figure points, plus we were able to finish the game resting all our older players and letting five boys who have all just moved up from U14 close out the match"

Ayr Squad: P Gibbons (12pts), C Lang, I Tomba (4), H Smith (3), B Wheeler, M Morrison (24), H Kerr (1), D Martin, D Pirie, M Keegan (16), G Lorimer (18), B Ferguson (1).