Sunday 14 April 2013 BBL Playoff 2nd Leg Surrey Heat 76-70 Worcester Wolves

Surrey win 154-151 on aggregate

For the second year in a row Worcester Wolves failed to progress beyond the first round of the post-season play-offs. A 70-76 defeat at Surrey Heat on Sunday afternoon means that a three-point first leg advantage turned into a three-point aggregate loss over both legs.

After working hard to build a 57-47 cushion over the first three-quarters of the game, a disastrous final ten minutes saw the Wolves out-scored 13-29 to crash out of the contest.

The opening quarter of the match was a low-scoring affair, as both sides favoured stifling defensive tactics over offensive production, ending with Surrey in front at 13-10. Wolves’ Alex Owumi was on target with a triple to draw his team level when the second period began, but then watched young Surrey guard Caylin Raftopoulos immediately restore the Heat advantage.

A long-distance shootout continued for the remainder of the half. Chavis Holmes and Albert Margai were the star sharpshooters for the Heat, but they were outgunned by the Worcester pairing of Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, who bagged a deuce of triples, and Kai Williams who floated home a quick trio, pushing Wolves to a comfortable 34-24 lead.

Travis Holmes joined his twin Chavis in sharing the opening four points of the second half, while Owumi and power forward Stan Ocitti took the scoring limelight for the visitors. A basket from Williams with a minute left in the third quarter gave Wolves their biggest lead of the afternoon at 55-43.

The final period of the game was where it all went awry for Worcester as they were severely out-scored by their hosts. Former Wolves’ forward Sam Cricelli began the fight-back with a confident drive to the hoop, Chavis Holmes scored from close and his brother Travis sank a three-pointer following a fumble by Wolves’ centre Arturas Masiulis.

Margai claimed a triple to close his side to 59-57 over the opening three minutes of the period. Cricelli pounced on an Ocitti turnover to bring Surrey within a point at 61-60 and on the next play Ocitti swiped at Cricelli, putting him at the free throw line. Both foul shots were converted and the Heat now nosed in front with four minutes to play.

Williams then allowed Chavis Holmes to steal the ball and could only grab at him to slow down his path to the basket. Again, both free throws were converted into points, putting matters to 61-64 on the day, and all square on aggregate.

A clearly-rattled Worcester outfit fought desperately to cling to the shirt-tails of their soaring opponents. With half a minute to go the Wolves looked buried, trailing 67-74, before a three-pointer from Prezzie-Blue re-awakened some hope. With nine seconds left it was Prezzie-Blue who again had the ball in his hands, racing the length of the court to hurl up a last-gasp shot that could have forced overtime. However his shot bounced off the rim, signalling wild celebrations for the Heat and their supporters.

Worcester coach Paul James was bitterly disappointed that his team failed to capitalise on a double-digit lead, saying: “We had a great first half although I was concerned that we had already accumulated nine turnovers. We needed to take better care of the ball in the second half, but failed to do so. I’m extremely upset that we lost this tie. Surrey seemed like the perfect matchup for us, but if you don’t look after the ball and don’t hold on to big leads then this is what happens.”

Meanwhile Heat coach Creon Raftopoulos, though celebrating the victory, was gracious in his remarks about the Worcester organisation, commenting: “After a battle like this it’s hard that one team has to lose. Without the injuries we have both had, we may well have faced each other deeper in the playoffs. Paul had his team fighting today but maybe they ran out of gas. I want to pay tribute Paul for all the great work he is doing at Worcester.”

For the umpteenth time this season Owumi led the Wolves’ scorers, tallying 18 points. Prezzie-Blue was next-highest scorer with 11 points. Ocitti registered a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Cricelli top-scored for Surrey with 22 points, followed by Chavis Holmes with 19 points.