Outsized and outmanned, the Grand Forks Secondary School (GFSS) Wolves senior boys team gave a valiant effort but fell to J.L. Crowe from Trail.With several forward topping 6’2 and a long bench, the Hawks built up a big lead and kept the pressure on the Wolves for the whole game.GFSS coach Michael Wirischagin said the boys gave up too many good looks from the three point line.“We were down to seven players from our typical eight,” said Wirischagin. “And then one of our regular starters, James Gow, who hurt his ankle at the Mt. Sentinel Tournament, re-hurt his ankle. So we were missing two of our primary ball-handlers (Gow and Isiah McDonald). So that made running our offence more difficult. On defence, it made our 2-3 zone more difficult. They scored most of their points against our 2-3. When we switched to man (defence) it worked a lot better.”Wirischagin said the Hawks don’t run a set offence but have some good outside shooters and good athletes.“They just pass the ball around the perimeter and put up threes,” he said. “In the first quarter, I think they put up around 19 points. It was the lack of putting pressure on their three point shooters even though we knew they were going to shoot. Missing the top two of our 2-3 make it really tough to put pressure on them.”Wirischagin said switching to a hard man to man defence gave the Wolves a boost and allowed the team to cut the Trail lead to 15 in the third quarter.“That was our chance to get back in the game,” he said. “But then we missed a lot of important free throws. I think we shot seven of 20 from the three point line. If we picked up 10 more of those, it’s a single digit game.”Wirischagin said the team needs to be more aware of what’s going on on defence and where they’re getting beat.“We need to be able to do the things necessary to come back and win,” he said. “We saw them making threes but didn’t get out and pressure them. We were making sloppy passes. It’s the fundamental things that come back and bite you in the rear.The Wolves are in action next on Jan. 21 when the team travels to Stanley Humphries Secondary School in Castlegar.