Saturday 16 November 2013 Leicester Riders 62-69 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves have risen back to the top of the British Basketball League after a pulsating victory at fellow title-challengers the Leicester Riders on Saturday. Wolves’ 69-62 success finally ends Riders’ record-setting 34-game home unbeaten run in the BBL, stretching all the way back to February 2012.

In a closely-fought game, Wolves were eventually able to emerge victorious after preventing their opponents from scoring a basket from anywhere other than the free-throw line for the first six minutes of the last quarter.

A nervous opening by both sides saw the scores level at 4-4 after five minutes had been played. Ex-Worcester centre Barry Lamble then nudged his side in front with his first touch of the ball, but former Leicester guard Zaire Taylor was on hand to reply with a quick double of scores.

The initial quarter ended at 16-14 in Wolves’ favour after back-up point guard Caylin Raftopoulos presented a clever pass for Andreas Schreiber to lay home.

Early in the second period Great Britain’s Olympic captain, Andrew Sullivan floated home a three-pointer, before watching Taylor do likewise. Worcester big man Will Creekmore opened his scoring account with four minutes remaining in the half, and the teams were again tied at 23-23.

As the half-time buzzer sounded there was concern for the visitors when Schreiber was adjudged to have impeded Leicester’s Anthony Downing as he made for the basket. Two free throws for Downing put his side ahead at 34-29, and left Schreiber having already used up three of his allotted five fouls.

Sullivan was in the thick of the action after the break, nailing a score for himself and assisting Lamble to increase his tally. However, he was left standing frustrated at mid-court when having the ball snatched from his hands and swiftly put through the hoop by Taylor.

Schreiber hit a double of baskets to close out the third quarter, but by now had picked up his fourth foul and still saw his side trailing at 43-47.

The last period of play was where Worcester were finally able to assert their authority. Five points from Alex Owumi gave his side their first lead since the opening quarter, and had Leicester coach Rob Paternostro urgently requesting a time out.

Matters did not improve for the hosts after the break as another score from Owumi, and one from Creekmore, made it 53-47 with six minutes to play.

Despite Owumi and Creekmore both joining Schreiber on the four-foul mark and now teetering on the edge of expulsion, they stood firm with their team-mates in repelling a succession of Rider attacks. Recent returnee from injury, Kalil Irving held his ground to take an offensive charge from Leicester’s Jay Couisnard and Schreiber repeated the act in the face of a wild onward rush from Downing.

It took until just four minutes remaining in the match before Riders were able to once more score from the field, a basket from Rashad Hassan, to peg the Wolves advantage back to 59-52.

With under a minute to go young English guard Connor Washington briefly ignited the hopes of a capacity home crowd with a triple, drawing his side back to 64-60, but Worcester were able to close out the evening from the free-throw line.

Emerging from underneath a jubilant dancing circle of his players, Wolves’ coach Paul James was breathless when describing what the triumph meant for his side, saying: “You can’t express the magnitude of this win. Not only have we beaten a very good defensive team in Leicester, but we’ve also beaten them in their own gym, where they haven’t been beaten in I don’t know how long. I’m so proud of these players.”

Owumi and Taylor led the Wolves scoring, with 20 and 19 points respectively. Downing top-scored for Leicester with 14 points.

Next up for the Wolves will be another trip to a title-challenger, when they travel up to Newcastle Eagles this Friday. The week after that (Friday 29 November) the Wolves will welcome the chance to return to the University of Worcester Arena, when Manchester Giants will be the visitors.