Plymouth Raiders 96-78 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves’ coach Paul James admitted that his side have an uphill task ahead of them if they are to progress to the BBL Trophy Final in Glasgow at the end of March.

Several spells of careless ball-handling punctuated Wednesday’s first leg semi-final at Plymouth Raiders, allowing the Devon outfit to dance to a commanding 96-78 success.

“It was a sloppy display,” said James. “Plymouth were on fire, but even if they missed we allowed them far too often to get the rebound and have a second go.

“They had 19 second-chance points and we turned the ball over 21 times. There’s no hope of winning if you give up those sorts of numbers. We’re not going to concede the tie, but we now have a mountain to climb in the second leg.”

Jermel Kennedy was the feature of a competitive first quarter, including an emphatic one-handed slam after he had jabbed the ball out of the hands of a Plymouth attacker. A double of scores from Raiders’ reserve forward John Barber brought the sides together at 18-18 entering the second period.

Four minutes before half-time it was still all-square at 28-28, before Wolves suffered their first breakdown. A 24-second shot-clock violation was followed by a trio of turnovers, allowing Plymouth to jump out to a 39-30 interval advantage.

Though unable to narrow the gap, Worcester stabilised enough to keep matters competitive at 69-58 by the end of the third quarter.

Ashton Khan sank a triple after the first minute of the final period, but it would be another four minutes before the visitors would again trouble the scoreboard as more turnovers and more failures to get shots away in a timely fashion ensued.

In the meantime, Plymouth went to work. Six points from lively centre Cory Dixon finalised an 85-61 lead. A series of three-pointers added salt to Worcester’s already seeping wounds, leaving a more-than-challenging 18-point deficit to overcome.

Kennedy with 16 points and Marek Klassen and Maurice Walker with 14 points apiece led the scoring.

Wolves now face their fourth game in a week with the visit of Manchester Giants to the University of Worcester Arena this Friday (7.30). Tickets are available to purchase at http://bit.ly/2cmPJcg

“It’s been a tough schedule but we can’t afford to let fatigue be a factor. Last time out we let Manchester snatch a win off us in the last seconds. We need to keep our focus this time,” added James.