Worcester Wolves 92-80 Manchester Giants

Saturday 29 September 2012

Worcester Wolves followed up Friday’s spirited showing at Newcastle Eagles with a comfortable 92-80 victory on Saturday evening at the University of Worcester against Manchester Giants.

The Giants came into the game in confident mood after winning their opening two games in their first season back in the British Basketball League. However, they were thoroughly outworked by a Wolves side showing much greater cohesion than in their own stuttering start to the new campaign.

Former Worcester stalwart David Watts got the scoring underway with an assured put back of a team mate’s miss. The Giants lead became four points with a score from Solihull-born 7-footer Mo Williams.

Wolves’ own big man Arturas Masiulis hit straight back with a familiar sky-hook, followed by a bonus free-throw when fouled in the act of shooting by Williams. Consecutive scores from Wolves’ guard Alex Owumi took his side ahead at 8-6 midway through the quarter.

Worcester led 22-16 at the end of the opening period, despite eleven enthusiastic points from the returning Watts.

While still awaiting the arrival in the UK of point guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, Wolves coach Paul James has taken the opportunity to give greater court time to less-experienced colleagues. Little-seen Daniel Belgrave eagerly grasped his chance when floating home a three-pointer to move the score to 25-16 and repeated the act a few moments later as his side extended their advantage to 31-20.

The Giants had no answer to an onslaught of triples in the quarter from the Wolves. After delighting in seeing an attempted dunk from Watts clang off the rim, a large Worcester crowd were brought to their feet by consecutive three-point scores from young British forward Stuart Thomson and American Stan Ocitti.

Coming out of the half-time break with a healthy 49-30 lead, there was no let-up in the host’s attacks. With Masiulis and Ocitti dominating play close to the basket, exasperated Manchester coach Jeff Jones was forced to call a time-out with his team trailing 64-37 at four minutes of the third quarter remaining.

Having withdrawn from the battle around the basket, the Giants had greater success with the harrying defence of their smaller and quicker players as they reduced the deficit to 70-51 going into the last period.

The score became 72-51 as Spanish forward Carlos Fernandez sunk the first of his eight fourth-quarter points, and the home lead again grew following a thunderous dunk from Masiulis.

A technical foul was called on a frustrated Watts for dissent, signalling the final white flag of surrender from the Giants as both coaches threw in support players for the last few minutes of the game.    

Paul James was pleased to see the Wolves get their first win of the season, saying:

“It was a win that we desperately wanted. After only getting back from Newcastle in the early hours of the morning, I think we did a fantastic job.”

 

When asked about the progress his new-look side is making, James replied:

 

“It was always going to take time for so many new players to bed in but after every game we are getting better. I’m confident we’ll do really well this season.”

Owumi led the Worcester scorers with 25 points, followed by Ocitti with 15 points. Lithuanians Arnas Kazlauskas and Arturas Masiulis tallied 13 and 12 points respectively. Watts top-scored for Manchester with 20 points.

Wolves will travel to Surrey Heat next Sunday, before returning to the University of Worcester in two weeks’ time, on Saturday 13 October, to take on Mersey Tigers.

Notes:

Wolves Starting Five – Owumi – 25 points, Fernandez – 11 points, Thomson – 5 points, Ocitti – 15 points, Masiulis – 12 points.