Friday 01 April 2016 Worcester Wolves 72-75 Leicester Riders

Another rammed-full University of Worcester Arena was whipped into a frenzy of excitement on Friday when Worcester Wolves narrowly failed to pull off the unlikeliest of comebacks against title-challenging Leicester Riders.

Fans were left sitting on their hands by half-time as they endured Wolves shuffling to a 31-46 deficit, after a performance labelled by their coach Paul James as ‘shocking’. Twenty minutes later everyone in the two-thousand-plus crowd had been brought to their feet to applaud a back-from-the-dead revival that just failed to succeed.

The 72-75 defeat puts Worcester in danger of losing their hold on third place in the British Basketball League. With only four games remaining in the regular season, an unbeaten run might now be needed in order to prevent Sheffield Sharks or Glasgow Rocks from snatching the higher-seeded position for the playoffs.

Only three minutes had elapsed and guards Jordan Aaron and Jay Couisnard had both turned the ball over to leave Wolves trailing 2-9. By the close of the first quarter the deficit had accelerated to 15-27, with motionless defenders inviting Leicester’s Anthony Rowe to grab a last-second bucket.

The hesitancy continued into the second period. Even when they stood poised to score beneath Riders’ hoop it was as if Worcester’s attackers had found soap on the ball as they allowed it to slip harmlessly out of their grasp.

Meanwhile Leicester continued to roll forward. Tyler Bernadini rattled in a double of three-pointers and as the half expired his side was again gifted with an easy second-chance for Trevor Gruis to convert.

Spanish forward Javier Mugica was the catalyst for an entirely different second half. A steal and an assist to Aaron were followed by a long-range success, and suddenly matters stood at 36-46.

Two minutes after the break the once fifteen-point gap had been slashed to 40-48 after Aaron floated the ball upwards for a spectacular Couisnard alley-oop. By midway through the third quarter triples for Aaron and Mugica had levelled the match at 50-50.

At six minutes left in the contest Wolves finally achieved the lead at 58-57 when Mugica spun around his much-smaller defender. A chess-match now ensued as the teams exchanged successes.

With 19 seconds remaining Worcester led 72-71. As the crowd rained down howls in their attempts to unsettle him, Great Britain captain Andrew Sullivan calmly edged the visitors in front at 72-73 with two converted foul shots. The outcome was sealed when Wolves then agonisingly fumbled possession from the sideline.

Couisnard and Mugica led the home scorers with 19 and 14 points respectively, while Bernadini top-scored for Leicester with 18.

Paul James gave his thoughts after the match, saying: “It was a shocking start to the game. We had far too many turnovers and there was no one out there who could take control for us.
“After the break I have to give the players credit for a fabulous comeback, but too much damage had already been done by then. Our terrible start cost us.”

In a telling statistic, Wolves were only able to make six of fifteen free-throw attempts, a failing that James felt was significant: “We missed foul shots throughout the match. We came all the way back into the game but unfortunately continued to miss far too many free throws.”

Next Friday Wolves will travel to London Lions, followed the next day by a trip to Bristol Flyers. The final weekend of the regular season will commence on Friday 15 April when Cheshire Phoenix visit the University of Worcester Arena, with Wolves’ last pre-playoff fixture taking place at Glasgow Rocks on Sunday 17 April.