Saturday 09 January 2016 Bristol Flyers 76-83 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves are off and running in their pursuit of BBL Trophy success after a pulsating 83-76 overtime victory at Bristol Flyers on Saturday. The win sets up a quarter-final tie at the University of Worcester Arena at the end of this month against Glasgow Rocks, the side they defeated to take the competition in 2014.

Wolves squandered the opportunity to end the game early by missing a dozen free throws, leaving a relieved coach Paul James to declare: “We made it hard for ourselves, missing a whole bunch of foul shots that could have put the game to bed. All the time we did that it meant we didn’t pressurise Bristol. We were fortunate to come away with the win.”

Following an even first half, Flyers threatened to pull away when taking a 47-39 advantage shortly after the break. Worcester fought back to lead towards the end of the regulation forty minutes but allowed their hosts to nudge the contest into added time, before finally asserting control in overtime.

Jay Couisnard led the Wolves’ scorers with 22 points, with fellow guards Ashton Khan and Josh Cameron contributing 15 points apiece. With centre Perris Blackwell suited up, but not yet re-introduced to the action following his lengthy injury-induced absence, his opposite number in Bristol, Tyrone Lee, found sufficient space to bang his way to 23 points.

The tip-off was delayed as overflow seating was laid out around the edges of the court to accommodate lines of spectators thronging to attend. Both teams displayed nervousness once the match began. A double of turnovers from Flyers’ Cardell McParland was matched by consecutive Wolves’ passes with too much power on them for their intended receivers to absorb.

Lee debuted from the field as the first quarter ended and then rose high to block a Khan attempt. A Cameron three-pointer tied the scores at 24-24. The last six points of the first half all went to Lee as he pushed his side into a 41-39 lead.

Lee looked unstoppable as he bustled his way to a further four points when the second half opened. At the same time, he succeeded in forcing Wolves’ captain Pavol Losonsky to take a seat on the bench after picking up his third foul when battling to suppress him.

However, it was from here that the pattern of play changed, as Worcester settled on a smaller line up. Cameron made a rare four-point play when converting a triple and a bonus foul shot. Couisnard was also on target from afar, and Khan sprinted to successive baskets.

Disraeli Lufadeju provided a burst of energy to even matters at 56-56 with his first touch of the ball. An acrobatic success from Orlan Jackman as he fell backwards to the floor brought a large swathe of travelling Worcester fans to their feet to celebrate the comeback.

Leading 60-56 entering the final period, it looked as if Wolves would now take charge. But while Lee now saw fewer chances close to the hoop, his team mates took their opportunities from outside the arc. Two triples from Mathias Seilund levelled the evening at 69-69 with three minutes remaining.

Jackman again impressed with a dunk to move his side ahead, but blotted his copybook with a double of missed free throws that might have sealed the win. Instead, a 73-73 deadlock meant five extra minutes on the clock.

After a further slew of spurned foul shots, Worcester took the first points of overtime when Losonsky slotted home. Finally displaying greater composure than their tiring hosts, Wolves were able to see out the extra-time victory.

James explained what eventually tipped the balance in Wolves’ favour: “We didn’t move the ball well enough early on and fell into Bristol’s style of one-on-one, up-and-down basketball. We succeeded once we realised that every time we ran a set play we got something out of it.”

Wolves now face a quick turnaround with a trip today (Sunday) to Cheshire Phoenix. “We now need to put this game to one side, go to Chester and play a little bit better than we did here,” added James.