The Winston-Salem Wolves remained unbeaten in ECBL play this season with a home win over the SC Upstate Redhawks on Saturday, March 16, with a final score of 120-80. The Redhawks scored first and held the first lead of the game, but a deep three pointer by starting guard Antonio Robinson quickly put the Wolves out in front and the team never trailed again in the game.

The Wolves came into the contest somewhat shorthanded, with shooting guard LePreece Lynch held out due to injury, and forward Ian Gregory out for a family commitment.

Both players had started the first two games of the season.

Joshea Singleton stepped in to pick up the scoring need left in the absence of Lynch and was the leading scorer for the Wolves with 24 points, while Seth Hill added a deep threat with 4-for-8 shooting from behind the arc.

Antonio Robinson continued his efficiency shooting a blistering 71.4 percent from the floor, including 2-for-3 from deep, while handing out 11 assists. The Wolves defense had their best showing of the young season, holding SC Upstate to 44.6 percent shooting on just 65 shot attempts.

Leading rebounders for the Wolves were Dionté Adams with 16 and Zalinor Banks with 10. Banks also notched his second double-double in a row with 17 points.

Point guard TJ Fullwood added a spark off of the bench with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

With the win, the Wolves improve to 3-0 on the season and remain on top of the Northeast Division. They will be on the road for their next game against the Charlotte Tribe on March 24.

The SC Upstate Redhawks fall to 0-2 on the season and are still searching for their first win of the year. The Redhawks will travel to play the Carolina Thunder in Latta, SC on March 30.

Box Score

Winston-Salem Wolves Sign Zalinor Banks

The Winston-Salem Wolves, a professional minor league franchise playing in the East Coast Basketball League for the 2019 season has announced the signing of Zalinor Banks, a 6’6”forward who played collegiately at Fayetteville State.

Banks has previous experience playing in the ECBL and is a Winston-Salem native, averaging 20+ points per game over the past two seasons. Banks is the fourth player signing announced by the Wolves leading into the 2019 season, which begins March 2, 2019.

The Winston-Salem Wolves are heading into their first season and will be playing their home games at the Childress Activities Center, a 2,000 seat facility on the campus of Forsyth Country Day School. For more information on the Winston-Salem Wolves, visit WSWolves.com.

The Winston-Salem Wolves, a minor league basketball franchise that will play the 2019 season in the East Coast Basketball League, announced today that David Solomon has been named as the head coach under a one-year agreement for the coming season. Solomon has over twenty-five years of coaching experience in high school, college and professionally with several international teams. He is a FIBA licensed coach with past coaching positions in Denmark, Venezuela and Slovakia.

“Many of the players in the ECBL are actively looking to either go back overseas to play on another professional contract, or in some cases, looking for their first contract, ” team owner Marcus Shockley said, “David has extensive experience in all levels of coaching and knows the international arena extremely well. We wanted to bring someone in who not only had the coaching experience but also the knowledge to help develop players into international prospects. David fits that need perfectly, especially for a team going into the first year.”

In regards to the agreement only being in place for the 2019 season, Shockley stated, “in an ideal world, we’d have David for several years, and we hope that will be the case. But just like the players,  a good coach is often presented with opportunities that they can’t pass up, so we’re looking at it as we’re lucky to have a high caliber coach from day one, and build from there. As a minor league team, we want to build consistency but we also realize that one of the goals of our organization is to enable our players to reach their own professional goals, and for some players, that means playing professionally outside of the United States.”

The Wolves announced their schedule earlier this week, but no roster announcements have been made. For more information about the Winston-Salem Wolves franchise, visit WSWolves.com.

Basketball

Winston-Salem Wolves basketball

Former Wake Forest player and NBA alum Rusty Larue will be joining the advisory board for the Winston-Salem Wolves,
a minor league franchise playing in the East Coast Basketball League this season. The addition of the Wolves was announced by the league earlier this week.

The advisory board will be a key factor for the team to make sound decisions regarding personnel, business development and operations. The team has announced that open try outs are expected in early January, although some closed practices will have started before then. Additionally, the team expects to name a head coach for the 2019 season within the next few days.

Larue played basketball, baseball, and football at Wake Forest University. He later played for the Chicago Bulls team that won the 1998 NBA championship, and has remained involved in coaching at both the collegiate and high school level in recent years.

For more information on the Winston-Salem Wolves basketball organization, visit WSWolves.com

winston-salem wolves

The East Coast Basketball League, a minor league based in the Southeastern United States, has announced the addition of a new team for the 2019 season, based in Winston-Salem, NC. The team will be operated by Marcus Shockley who is the founder and Executive Director of Neptune Media Group, parent company of NetCast Sports Network, a publisher of sports related programming for broadcast television and live streaming.

Additionally, Shockley’s past experience has been in creating and managing national high school basketball showcases which were featured in SLAM magazine and on ESPN’s Top 10; Producing broadcasts for pre-NBA draft camps such as the Portsmouth Invitational, and financing various elite high school and pro basketball combine events.

“Minor league basketball is tough to get traction in, here in the U.S. Market,” said Shockley, “but I really like what the East Coast Basketball League has done and I didn’t want the Triad (NC) area to be left without a team. We bleed basketball in North Carolina and the Winston-Salem, Greensboro area is no different. Our goal is to be competitive in our first year and create a community environment for fans in the area.”

Kishon Bishop will be working with Shockley and brings the experience of organizing the Triad All-Star Classic each year, which features the top players from the regional high schools, as well as running several events such as the Blue Chip fall league and the Triad First 48, an elite high school event. Bishop also previously played for the national team for his birth country of St. Vincent & the Grenadines and organized the Triad Pro Am summer league for several years.

For more information on the Winston-Salem Wolves, visit WSWolves.com.

The East Coast Basketball League has announced the 2018 All-Star Rosters as they head into their conference playoff championships this weekend.

Southern Conference

Chris Moore – Prime Time Players
Terell Smith – Prime Time Players
PJ Heath – Prime Time Players
Anton Grier – Carolina Crusaders
Sam Dotson – Carolina Crusaders
Trey James – Carolina Thunder
James Richardson – Carolina Thunder
Alex Brown – Carolina Thunder
Mike Couvson – Augusta Eagles
Daniel Quarles – Augusta Eagles
Octreyvius Roebuck – SC All-Stars
James Murray – Charlotte Tribe

Northern Conference

DeShaune Greene – Hampton Roads Warriors
Caleb Henderson – Hampton Roads Warriors
Robert Pinkston – Petersburg Cavaliers
Kenard Moore – Winston-Salem Certified
Marsharee Neely – Winston-Salem Certified
Jamarr Hardy – East Carolina Cardinals
Kendall Ham – East Carolina Cardinals
Will Griffin – NC Coyotes
Corey Evans – NC Coyotes
Danny Sanders – Hickory Hoyas
Justin Glover – Hickory Hoyas
Avery Patterson – Rowan County Bulls

The ECBL All-Star Game for 2018 will be live streamed on NetCast Sports on June 30, 2018.