Sunday 17 April 2016 Glasgow Rocks 80-69 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves rounded out their regular season fixtures with a 69-80 reversal at Glasgow Rocks, the team they will now face again this week in the playoffs.

Both sides finished with a 19-14 win-loss record in the last British Basketball League standings, with Wolves taking fourth place, just above the Rocks by virtue of holding a 2-1 advantage in the teams’ three league meetings this season.

Despite Sunday’s result having no bearing on final league positions, Wolves’ Coach Paul James felt both sides put forward plenty of effort, saying: “While I’m disappointed we lost, I’m pleased that we still fought hard, as did Glasgow. It was a tight contest until the final few minutes.

“It was an opportunity for everyone on our roster to get court time and everyone stuck to their jobs and battled.”

In a balanced spread of scorers, Jordan Aaron led the way for Wolves with 16 points, with Jay Couisnard and Orlan Jackman tallying 13 and 11 points respectively. Pavol Losonsky contributed 10 points, while Perris Blackwell was a whisker away from another of his frequent double-double stat-lines with 9 points and 11 rebounds.

Worcester began ponderously, falling 3-13 behind after just four minutes as Rocks’ Great Britain forward Kieron Achara notched seven early points. By two minutes left in the opening quarter James had already introduced a quartet of players from the bench and one of those replacements, Jackman, nailed a couple of buckets to reduce the deficit to 21-23.

As the second period opened Couisnard slotted home successive three-pointers and Worcester were ahead for the first time at 29-25. Disraeli Lufadeju and Jordan Dawes got their names on the scoresheet to help maintain the lead until just before half-time.

Glasgow took the upper hand either side of the interval to go in front at 39-46 before another rally from the visitors resulted in an even contest at 58-58 entering the final quarter.

With four minutes of the afternoon remaining, more scoring input from Achara returned the advantage to Rocks at 60-67. Aaron grabbed a basket and a bonus free throw to once more close the gap to 64-69, but an 11-4 closing run was enough for Glasgow to take the victory.

The first leg of the quarter-final playoff takes place in Scotland this Friday, with the University of Worcester Arena hosting the return leg on Sunday 24 April (tip off 4pm).

James is optimistic about those matches, saying: “If we play to our potential we will win through. First up is Friday and after that we want to put on a great show for our fans back in Worcester on Sunday.”