Friday 08 February 2013 Newcastle Eagles 88-94 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves shocked a sell-out crowd at Sports Central Newcastle on Friday when overcoming the hometown Eagles 94-88 in the quarter-final of the BBL Trophy. Neither side was able to pull clear of the other until the final minute when the Eagles were reduced to fouling the Wolves in order to slow down the game clock and stay in the contest. Wolves’ guard Alex Owumi dominated the night’s scoring with 34 points, including seven three-point baskets, setting his team up for a two-legged semi-final against Leicester Riders.

As in the last matchup between the teams, in December, the pattern of the game was set early with neither side able to dominate. Eagles’ centre Kareem Maddox began the scoring with a dunk before his opposite number for the Wolves, Arturas Masiulis, also slotted the ball home. Both players netted four points each over the next few minutes. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue made his return from injury midway through the opening quarter to take over at the point guard position, laying on a neat pass for forward Stan Ocitti to connect with a three-pointer to close the period with Wolves ahead at 23-20.

The second quarter began with a triple from 2012 BBL Player of the Year Joe Chapman and was quickly followed by another score from Maddox. Again the lead see-sawed between the sides. Worcester trailed 32-35 with three minutes to go until the interval, before Owumi produced a burst of scoring. A close-range basket was followed by three made free throws when he was fouled by Chapman in the act of shooting from distance. Another three-point score completed Owumi’s 16 first-half points and took the Wolves to 40-37 before six late points from Newcastle restored their lead.
Owumi and Masiulis opened the second-half scoring, but former Worcester guard Anthony Martin tallied five points to nudge the Eagles back in front. When Maddox slotted home four free throws after consecutive fouls, the Wolves faced their largest deficit of the evening at 48-55 with four minutes of the third quarter remaining. However, their forward Arnas Kazlauskas finally notched his first points of the evening and then quickly contributed a further five points to tie the teams at 61-61.

Prezzie-Blue began the last quarter with a triple and swiftly nailed another score after stealing the ball from Eagles’ veteran forward Charles Smith. His joy was short-lived however when he was forced to leave the court after aggravating his earlier injury. A Maddox free-throw topped off a 5-0 run to lessen the Wolves’ lead to 69-68 with seven minutes to go.

A moment later Newcastle were dealt a similar loss of a star player when, after contributing 21 points and a sizeable 14 rebounds, Maddox’ night also came to an end after he committed his fifth foul of the game. With more room now available around the basket, Masiulis was quick to take advantage with five points. When Owumi sank his sixth three-pointer the Wolves led 77-71 with four minutes remaining and it looked as if the deadlock may have finally been broken.
But the reigning BBL Trophy-holding Eagles were not yet prepared to surrender their silverware and nine successive points from Smith helped them roar back to trail by just two at 82-84 in the final two minutes. Wolves’ stand-in playmaker Carlos Fernandez snatched a score and so did Ocitti, and daylight was once more restored at 88-83 with 49 seconds left. A series of wild outside shots was all that Newcastle could muster in the closing moments as the Wolves sealed a memorable victory from the foul line.

Wolves’ coach Paul James was overjoyed for his team, saying: “It was a superb performance. It was a physical game but all our players did their job.” Although James was delighted about the displays of all of his players, he made special mention of Alex Owumi, adding: “That was what you call an MVP performance. He was tremendous. He flat out refused to let us lose.”

Referring to the point when Maddox left the game James commented: “We wanted to slow down Chapman and Smith but this left Maddox open for a big game so it was a real bonus when he fouled out.”

Looking ahead to what will be only Wolves’ second-ever semi-final during their time in the BBL, James was optimistic about what lies ahead, saying; “We’ve now beaten Plymouth and Newcastle in this competition. If we get to the final we will have certainly done it the hard way. Leicester will be top opposition but we will be well up for them.”
After Owumi, Wolves’ next highest scorers were Masiulis and Ocitti with 19 and 13 points respectively. Ocitti also grabbed 13 rebounds, registering a double-double of points and rebounds for the second game in a row. Smith led Newcastle with 23 points.

Wolves will look to maintain their winning momentum when they host consecutive games at the University of Worcester next weekend. Mersey Tigers will be the first visitors on Friday 15 February, quickly followed by London Lions on Saturday 16 February. The club are offering a special double-header discount price of £15 to see both games instead of the usual entry fee of £13 for a single game.