Saturday 06 April 2013 Plymouth Raiders 69-106 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves rounded off their regular season fixtures in impressive fashion by demolishing Plymouth Raiders 106-69 down in the West Country on Saturday. The victory means that Wolves finish the year with 20 wins from their 33 games to take fifth place in the British Basketball League, and will now meet fourth-placed Surrey Heat over two legs in the first round of the playoffs.

Having swept aside Leicester Riders by a sizeable margin the night before, Wolves carried over their offensive momentum to storm to a 28-13 first quarter lead, and virtually doubled their advantage by half-time. A capacity home crowd will be disappointed that only a couple of the Plymouth side managed to register double-figure scoring, while their visitors contained six players who were able to achieve the feat. In addition, the Raiders had no answer on defence to a hail of three-pointers from the Wolves who made a huge 17 out of their 27 attempts.

Competing centres Arturas Masiulis and Andreas Schreiber matched each other in putting the match at 4-4 in the early going. After three minutes Wolves’ guard Carlos Fernandez sank a three-pointer to push his team in front for the first time at 9-8.
From there the floodgates opened. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue floated home what would be the first of his four triples during the evening, Stan Ocitti stole the ball and made his shot, and Masiulis scored again. Fernandez nailed another three-pointer, and forwards Stan Ocitti and Arnas Kazlauskas both did likewise.

Raiders were pleased to see the return from injury of their star guard Michael Ojo and he began the second period with a double of close-range baskets. However, he then had to watch his opposite number, Prezzie-Blue, better this with consecutive scores from outside the arc. On the next play Prezzie-Blue stole the ball from Ojo who was then whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul, gifting two free-throws and possession to the Worcester man.

Kazlauskas converted the resultant possession, and Ocitti and Alex Owumi cruelly delivered further long-range punishment, moving the scoreboard to 44-17 and forcing a desperately-needed Plymouth time out with seven minutes left in the first-half. American forward Javarris Barnett was able to produce a burst of three triples as the interval approached, leaving his side with faint hope as they entered the locker rooms with a 56-34 deficit.

Barnett was off-target as the third quarter began, although Ojo took his turn in picking up the scoring slack. By contrast the Wolves had no such offensive woes, with input coming from all quarters. Masiulis and Prezzie-Blue finalised their contributions with 17 and 16 points respectively, while Owumi continued to torment the Raiders’ defenders.

Despite entering the fourth quarter already ahead at 78-49, there was no let-up in intensity from Worcester. Forwards Kai Williams and Kalil Irving now took the scoring lead, and two players from the end of the Wolves’ bench, Karl Noyer and Albert Ziwa, were also able to make their marks on the score sheet as their side kept their foot on the pedal in romping to the final 106-69 destruction of their hosts.

Wolves’ coach Paul James was delighted to see his charges complete an outstanding weekend double of decisive victories, saying: “Just as against Leicester, we moved the ball well, shared the ball well, and were outstanding on defence. I’m particularly proud of our performance today in Plymouth. We came together as a team, made extra passes for each other, and this gave us the result we deserved.”

Looking ahead to the first round of the playoffs, James added: “We’ll continue to work hard in training and look to carry this recent momentum over to our games against Surrey.”

Owumi registered a double-double of points and rebounds, totalling 19 points and grabbing 10 boards. After Prezzie-Blue and Masiulis’ contributions, Ocitti and Williams each hit 13 points, with Fernandez tallying ten. Barnett and Ojo led the Plymouth scorers with 24 and 16 points respectively.

The first leg of the matchup with Surrey Heat will take place at the University of Worcester on Saturday night (tip off 7pm), with the Wolves scheduled to make the return journey to Surrey on Sunday afternoon.