Saturday 09 April 2016 Bristol Flyers 77-82 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves will enter next weekend’s final round of the British Basketball League’s regular season locked into a battle with Sheffield Sharks over third place in the table.

A gritty 82-77 triumph at Bristol Flyers on Saturday leaves Wolves with a 19-12 win-loss record while Sharks currently sit a place beneath them on an 18-12 record.

Worcester lost out at London Lions on Friday after wilting under a hail of three-pointers. They were subjected to a similar onslaught in the first half of their visit to Bristol, before at last drawing a line in the sand and regaining the initiative.

After just a couple of minutes in the West Country, Wolves already trailed 2-10 following two triples from Doug Williams. Jordan Aaron responded with what would be Wolves’ solitary long-range success in the first half, before Williams again connected.

Disraeli Lufadeju injected fire into the evening to drag the arrears back to 22-23 as the second quarter began, but the deficit would once more widen out to 32-43 when Flyers floated in their seventh three-pointer.

The last five pre-interval points went to the visitors, as did the first points of the second half when Aaron jabbed the ball out of the hands of a Bristol attacker and raced down court to make it 39-43.

A large contingent of travelling fans whooped in delight when Javier Mugica directed a behind-the-back pass for Perris Blackwell to slam home while Flyers defenders stood transfixed. By midway through the third period Wolves had drawn level at 53-53.

On the next play Mugica somehow directed an outrageous shot through the basket despite falling backwards to the floor, giving his side a lead that they would not relinquish.

Worcester were ahead 63-58 entering the final quarter and continued to push forwards. Pavol Losonsky and Blackwell asserted inside control while Orlan Jackman and Jay Couisnard tormented Bristol into a series of turnovers.

With a minute and a half remaining Wolves led 74-65, having limited their hosts to just a single further three-pointer. A late flurry gave respectability to Bristol’s side of the scoreboard, but not enough to claw back the lead.

In a balanced spread of scorers, Blackwell and Losonsky each tallied 16 points, backed up closely by 15 points apiece for Couisnard and Aaron.

Coach Paul James praised his players’ defensive intensity after a slow start, saying: “Early on we still seemed shell-shocked from what happened in London. But we made a stand – five, six, seven stops in a row – our defence won the game for us.

“This was a win we desperately needed and a win we desperately wanted.”
The first round of the playoffs will begin in a fortnight’s time. Before then, Wolves round out their fixtures by entertaining Cheshire Phoenix at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday 15 April (tip off 7.30pm), followed by a trip to Glasgow Rocks on Sunday.

“We want to finish the season the right way by taking care of Cheshire and making sure we profit from the long trip up to Glasgow. Then it’s on to the playoffs,” added James.