Worcester Wolves 100 - 102 Newcastle Eagles

On a freezing Saturday evening, Worcester Wolves rewarded those supporters who made the hazardous journey to the University of Worcester with some thrilling action. Despite falling to an eventual 100-102 defeat against the league-leading Newcastle Eagles, the Wolves showed why they hold second place in the British Basketball League by competing feverishly in an enthralling encounter.

Wolves’ small forward Tommy Freeman opened the night’s scoring with a three point score from the left hand corner of the court. Consecutive baskets by Newcastle’s Joe Chapman gave his side the lead at 4-3. Tit for tat scoring continued until midway through the opening quarter when a neat lay up from Carlos Fernandez, followed by a block of an Eagles scoring attempt, began to put some daylight between the teams.

A 28-21 first period advantage was increased to 32-23 when a pass from Fernandez was converted by David Watts. However a 16-4 burst from the visitors swung the momentum back in their favour at 36-39.

Another shot from distance by Freeman then levelled the scores with four minutes remaining in the half. Hardworking Wolves’ power forward Alex Zimnickas took Wolves back in front at 47-44, before a reply from Chapman once more tied the teams.

A double of long range scores from Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, the second of which came with only 4 seconds to go, saw the Wolves heading into the locker rooms with a 55-47 lead.

Midway through the third quarter another Freeman basket gave the Wolves the lead at 62-55, but the Eagles found their range from beyond the arc as they drained four consecutive three-pointers in a 14-4 tear to regain the lead at 66-69. A 12-2 response from the Wolves handed the home side the advantage back once again at 78-72, and they held onto their lead at 80-77 heading into the final period.

Prezzie-Blue sliced through the Newcastle defence to open up a seven point advantage at 90-83 midway through the last quarter, but the visitors clawed their way back to tie the contest at 95-95 with less than two minutes remaining.

At a minute to go Chapman made his eighth three-pointer of the evening to give the Eagles the lead at 95-98. A pair of free-throws from the BBL’s Player of the Month for January, Charles Smith, sandwiched between a Richie Gordon basket and another three-pointer from Prezzie-Blue, saw the game all tied up at 100-100 with 25 seconds remaining.

Another Smith basket with 11 seconds to go gave the Eagles a 100-102 lead. A wild last-gasp shot from Freeman fell short, allowing the Eagles to hold on for the all-important victory and open up a six point gap at the top of the table.

After the game Wolves’ Director of Basketball Paul James applauded his players’ efforts: “It’s a disappointing loss, but I’m proud of the guys. We took on the best and we pushed them all the way. It was a great game of basketball for the spectators, and both teams played their hearts out.”

Prezzie-Blue led the Wolves scorers with 27 points, followed by Freeman with 22 points. Chapman led all scorers in the game with an impressive 39 point haul. Wolves will return to the University of Worcester next Saturday to once more face the side that defeated them in the BBL Cup semi-final, the Plymouth Raiders.

report by Colin Taylor

Sheffield 73 - 72 Worcester Wolves 

It was a night of deja-vu for the Worcester Wolves on Friday as they slipped to a 73-74 defeat at Sheffield Sharks, mirroring their one-point loss in their last visit to the same venue in November.  

On that occasion the Sharks fought back from a large deficit to eventually triumph, whereas this time it was the Wolves who were heavily in arrears before almost pulling off the victory.

 Richie Gordon opened the scoring for the Wolves but this was to be the only time his side led, until the closing seconds of the contest. Early baskets from young English guard Zach Gachette, standing in for the injured Nate Reinking, and his backcourt partner Jimmy Langhurst moved the hosts into a comfortable 25-13 first quarter advantage.

At three minutes into the second period, with Wolves trailing 19-32, Gordon picked up his third foul, forcing him to the bench. A few moments later the man Gordon replaced in the centre position at Worcester, Justin Dobbins, himself was called for his third offence when carelessly swiping at a three-point attempt from Lithuanian forward Arnas Kazlauskas.

As well as sinking the long range basket, Kazlauskas made the bonus foul shot, reducing the deficit to 32-40. An exchange of scores put the scores at 34-42 when Wolves coach Paul James called a time out with 28 seconds of the half remaining. Another score from distance by Kazlauskas further closed the teams to 37-42.

The second half began with a Gordon tap in, and a block of a Dobbins shot. As the quarter wound down, the battle of the big men continued, but was interrupted when another Gordon block was judged illegal by referee Neil Wilkinson. With Gordon once more off-court, Dobbins was left with space to sink three consecutive baskets to once more widen the Shark’s advantage.

The first five points of the final period pulled Wolves to within a point at 57-58, but a couple of scores from the quietly-efficient Gachette once more established a cushion for the Sharks.

At 63-68, and with two minutes of the contest remaining, Sheffield player-coach Atiba Lyons was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul when blocking the path of the oncoming Gordon. One free throw was converted and one missed, but Wolves point Sherrad Prezzie-Blue was able to score a moment later to bring his side to within two points at 66-68.

With just 21 seconds to go a Tommy Freeman basket finally edged the Wolves ahead, at 73-72. However, Langhurst quickly replied for the Sharks, prompting a Worcester time out with seven seconds left to save the game.

The ball was inbounded from Freeman to Prezzie-Blue, who passed the ball across court to Kazlauskas. As Sheffield defenders swarmed around him Kazlauskas was forced into an ungainly shot attempt that went wide. At the final buzzer a furious Paul James remonstrated with the refereeing crew that his player had been impeded, but to no avail.

It was left to Wolves assistant coach Alex Radu to explain what he saw: “Paul has reason to be upset about what happened. One of our players goes to the basket and is fouled, but the foul is not called.

“It’s disappointing that despite starting slowly and missing many shots from favourable positions, we did well to come all the way back into the game, only to then lose out right at the end.”

Freeman led the Wolves scorers with 26 points, followed by Kazlauskas with 15. Gachette scored highest for Sheffield with 16 points.

Wolves will now go into a hard week of training in preparation for the visit of league-leaders the Newcastle Eagles, to the University of Worcester next Saturday.

report by Colin Taylor