Friday 11 October 2013 Worcester Wolves 94-90 Cheshire Phoenix

For the second night in a row Worcester Wolves fought tooth and nail to drag themselves back from a late deficit and eventually triumph after overtime. On Thursday they won 63-62 at London Lions and on Friday they defeated a shell-shocked Cheshire Phoenix 94-90, after a titanic battle.

Another big crowd was on hand at the University of Worcester Arena to witness the Wolves maintain their unbeaten start to the season and now go clear at the top of the British Basketball League. After playing free-flowing basketball early in the encounter, Wolves’ exertions of the night before seemed to take their toll as the offence thereafter dried up. In the dying seconds of the game, a steal and two crucial free throws from Zaire Taylor thrillingly took the evening into an extra period.

Ex-Worcester forward Kai Williams marked his return to the city by opening the scoring, but responses from Stefan Djukic, Alex Owumi and then Kai’s elder brother, Jamal, put Wolves in front at 7-2.

A prolonged exchange of three-pointers was the feature of the initial quarter. Cheshire shooting guard Dominique Coleman hit a trio of long-range scores, but this feat was matched by Wolves’ Williams, helping his side to a 31-23 lead after ten minutes.

The first warnings of a tight contest came when Phoenix took three baskets at the beginning of the second quarter. Although the hosts re-established a cushion at 42-31 with three minutes of the first-half to go, Coleman once more stepped to the fore from long distance, taking Phoenix into the interval trailing by just 47-43, having drained an impressive five of his six three-point shot attempts.

After the break, Kai Williams again took the honour of beginning the scoring, and then made two free throws after being fouled by his sibling, levelling the match at 47-47. The Cheshire assault continued, with Owumi and centre Will Creekmore being the only Wolves players able to score from the field during a 26-14 tear for the visitors.

A 61-69 deficit only worsened as the fourth quarter went on. At six minutes remaining, Djukic was whistled for a technical foul after a tussle with Phoenix veteran Shawn Myers, and left Wolves staring up at their largest arrears of the evening at 65-77.

Over the next couple of minutes a double of close-range baskets from Creekmore, and one from outside the arc by Taylor finally re-ignited Worcester’s offence, forcing a Cheshire time out. At a minute remaining and his side still behind 77-81, it was the turn of Wolves’ coach Paul James to call for a break in play.

From the re-start Taylor floated in another triple, rousing the home supporters to their feet. With just ten seconds to go, and with the hosts behind at 80-82, the University Arena was awash with noise after seeing Taylor gleefully pounce on a wayward Cheshire pass. As he sprinted towards the hoop and rose upwards he was cruelly hacked to the floor by Phoenix’s French forward Masse Doumbe.

Inspired by a huge wave of “Taylor, Taylor” chants, the Worcester favourite regained his feet to coolly sink both of the resultant foul shots and send the contest into an extra five minutes.

As the overtime period progressed a deflated Phoenix were unable to cope with a resurgent home side. Taylor and Creekmore tallied twelve further points on the way to the 94-90 comeback victory.

Paul James was thrilled but exhausted after seeing his team pull off the second of a double of plucky fight-backs, saying: “Two nights and two overtime wins. We never stopped believing. We found a way to come back in the fourth quarter and after that there was only going to be one winner. I’m so proud of these players.”

Taylor and Owumi had big-scoring nights with 27 and 23 points respectively, but the most dominant performance of the game came from Creekmore who nailed 28 points and grabbed a monstrous 22 rebounds.

Next Friday the Wolves will take on Manchester Giants in the first round of the BBL Cup at the University of Worcester Arena, before making the short hop over to Birmingham Knights on the following Sunday afternoon.