SCOTLAND SET SIGHTS ON GOLD COAST

Scotland head coach Erik Olson believes his side have offered enough proof that they could hold their own at next year’s Commonwealth Games after winning the Celtic Clash tournament in Edinburgh.

Great Britain internationalist Ali Fraser grabbed 18 points and ten rebounds as the Scots thrashed Wales 108-44 on Sunday with every player getting on the scoresheet in a lop-sided rout.

Coupled with Friday’s drubbing of Ireland, it was as much as the hosts could have hoped for with American-born forward Skylar White impressing by scoring 17 off the bench to complete his first spell with the team.

“We learnt a lot from playing together,” said Olson. “Skylar, Eddie Matthews, 16-year-old Callan Low, these guys had never pulled on a Scotland jersey before. But we know we have a smart group who, between them, offer a lot of options.”

Now the American and his charges must now await next month’s decision on whether they land an invite to the Gold Coast in 2018. With Canada yet to confirm whether they will be represented, only England, New Zealand and the hosts appear to have guaranteed berths with horse-trading set to determine the remainder of the field.

But while Scotland’s women arrived in Malaysia yesterday to play a series of games this week that might strengthen their cause, their male counterparts have only a pair of outings against weak opposition to present as a body of evidence.

“All you can do is beat who is available,” Olson conceded. “All we were told is that we had to beat two Commonwealth or equivalent countries to stand a chance and we’ve done that,” Olson said.

“I’d have loved if we could have played nine games to show what we can do but they weren’t available. But we definitely have a young and talented group that would do well at the Games. Hopefully that happens, and then the challenge would be to see how we build a core at Glasgow Rocks that will make it easier for us to win games in Australia.”