Worcester Wolves 90-83 Sheffield Sharks

Worcester Wolves made it a double of pre-season victories by following up Monday’s win over Bristol Flyers with another satisfying return from coach Paul James’ new roster at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

There was never more than a handful of points between the sides until the final couple of minutes when Wolves pulled away to a 90-83 success in a contest that James described as ‘a fantastic show’.

“This was a tough test for us, but one that we needed as a team. It was tight until towards the end when George Beamon hit a couple of big threes and we got stops at the defensive end,” said James.

”What a fantastic show for a pre-season game, in front of another big crowd. None of the players left anything on the court.”

Beamon topped the scoring with 23 points on his debut, followed by Trayvonn Palmer and Dallin Bachynski on 17 and 16 points respectively. Ashton Khan on 12 points and Brandon Parrish with 10 rounded out Wolves’ double-digit scorers.

“If we continue to share the ball around like we did today we will benefit from having plenty of weapons on this team,” added James.

Worcester led 23-21 at the close of the first quarter, with Sheffield taking the edge by the end of the half at 44-42.

Bachynski battled hard inside to notch a dozen first-half points but took a seat on the bench for most of the third period, leaving others to come to the fore.

Beamon and Palmer totalled 17 points between them as the back-and-forth encounter continued with Sharks still slightly ahead at 66-65 entering the last quarter.

Once Beamon sank successive threes Sharks finally wilted. A cheeky in-bound pass from Palmer to Beamon at the end-line caught defenders napping and stretched Wolves’ advantage to 84-77 with a minute to play, sealing the win.

Wolves will join other sides this Sunday at London’s O2 Arena to compete in the Betway British Basketball All-Stars Championship, before returning to the University of Worcester Arena next Friday, 29 September, (tip off 7.30), for their regular-season opener against London Lions. Tickets available here.

Image credit: Razorlight Imagery