Tuesday 26 March 2013 – Worcester Wolves vs Newcastle Eagles

The battle for seedings in the BBL Championship play-offs continues at the University of Worcester on Tuesday evening (tip off 7.30pm) as the home-town Wolves host reigning champions Newcastle Eagles.

The Eagles go into the game in second place in the BBL Championship with a 22-6 record but need to win their final five games to retain even an outside chance of winning the title again. Wolves also need a victory if they are to repeat last season’s top four finish, and go into the game in sixth spot with a 17-11 record.

It will be the fifth meeting of the campaign between the two sides, and they have proved to be evenly matched opponents with the four previous games being split. Eagles ran out 81-73 home winners in the BBL Championship in September and repeated the trick with a 107-85 victory at Sport Central in the BBL Cup quarter-final. However, Wolves levelled the Championship series with the Eagles when they won 88-73 at home in December, before shocking Newcastle with a 94-88 road win in the BBL Trophy quarter-final two months later. Eagles lead the all-time series between the teams 19-6.

Wolves’ coach Paul James knows his side faces a difficult game on Tuesday evening: “The Eagles are a tough team and if on their game, probably the best in the league. Charles Smith and Joe Chapman continue to be the players to slow down if you can. Last time we played them we matched their intensity in every area and were aggressive offensively and we’ll need to do that again if we are to win the game.”

With Wolves having lost twice over the weekend, Eagles’ player-coach Fabulous Flournoy is wary that his side may face a backlash on Tuesday evening: “Worcester are a really tough team with some top quality BBL players. They will be hurting after two losses at the weekend and I am sure they will play hard against us. Alex Owumi has really stepped up recently and the healthier that Sherrad Prezzie-Blue gets, the better they will be. Our last game against them was in the trophy and we were without both myself and Damon Huffman. We actually played pretty well that day but struggled with foul trouble down the stretch. Playing Worcester is all about meeting the physical challenge.

A victory at Leeds Carnegie saw the University of Worcester lift the British Universities & Colleges title for the third straight season last week, and James was delighted with the success: “It was fantastic to win the BUCS championship for the third season in a row. It reinforces that the University of Worcester’s study and play basketball programme is the best in the country, and the partnership with the Worcester Wolves is very strong and working well for both parties. There are increasingly more study and play options at the University of Worcester and we catering for all levels of player male and female. Anybody interested in more information should contact me at the University of Worcester.”

James was less happy with Wolves’ display against One Health Sharks Sheffield and Manchester Giants: “We did not play well against the Sharks at all. We lacked commitment and desire in the first half and left ourselves too much to do in the second half. We had no flow to our game and especially on offence. The only player that really came out with any credit was Alex Owumi.

“Against Manchester it was pretty much the same as the day before against the Sharks. We had no rhythm to our game and we stuttered badly. Alex Owumi was the only positive. Stefan Gill and David Watts had good games for the Giants.”