Worcester Wolves sent a statement out to the rest of league about their Playoff ambitions, as they overcame Everton Tigers yesterday, 67-76 at Greenbank Sports Academy, and Airwaves Plymouth Raiders 84-80, on their home court on Saturday night.

 

In the win over Raiders, the University of Worcester side made an astounding thirteen three pointers, in their first victory over the South Coast outfit, who have now lost five games on the bounce. In the Everton game, a 9-0 burst at the very start, was all Paul James side needed to gain control of the game, as the Tigers struggled to put the ball in the basket, which led to them being 12-18 down after the first ten minutes. The second quarter was a similar story, as the Wolves led by nine points for most of the way, thanks to the play of American floor general Rod Middleton and the period ended 28-31 to Worcester. Despite Everton pulling it back to within two at 33-35, a 10-0 burst for Worcester, including threes from Middleton and Daniel Gilbert put them into a comfortable position again. The third quarter subsequently ended with the Wolves being 48-55 up, and they then closed out the game from the free throw line after a valiant effort from Everton in the final period, to win 67-76.

 

However, James said that his side made hard work of the result: “We made it hard for ourselves.’ He said: ‘I’m trying to develop a killer instinct into my players so we can turn winning positions into actual wins. Tonight we had a 16 point lead with less than seven minutes left, but our indiscipline let them into the game and we had to hang on to get the win.”

 

As the Wolves experienced two wins, PAWS London Capital had the opposite, as they lost 112-66 to Newcastle Eagles on Friday evening, and 85-52 to Guildford Heat two nights later. The Raiders also had a similar fate, as the loss against Wolves was followed by a tight 75-79 defeat against Essex, who were also beaten 83-95 by Everton on Saturday evening. Conversely, Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders went 1-1, as a 100-86 defeat to Sheffield Sharks was followed by a 100-85 win over Marshall MK Lions. To their credit though, the Lions bounced back with a dramatic 70-71 win over Cheshire Jets, as Milton Keynes’ tough defence prevented Cheshire big man Colin O’Reilly getting off a quality shot attempt with 4.3 seconds left in the game.

 

Rounding off the weekend’s results is a game Worthing Thunder will want to forget, as they were convincingly beaten 106-68 by Glasgow Rocks, north of the border.