Worcester Wolves 109–75 Manchester Giants

Worcester Wolves warmed up for next weekend’s British Basketball League Cup Final with an eventually comfortable 109-75 triumph over Manchester Giants at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

However, the final margin of the victory does not tell the full story. Wolves initially had difficulty subduing a Manchester side with just two wins to their name this season against 12 defeats.

It took a storming third quarter where the hosts poured in double the points of their visitors to transform a slender 42-39 half-time advantage into a healthy final score-line.

Coach Paul James admitted that strong words were needed during the interval to prompt his team into action, saying:

“I spoke to the players for less than a minute at half-time – that’s all it took – we came back out and did what we should have been doing from the start of the match.

“I was pretty disappointed with our lack of respect for Manchester. Before the game we had talked about them being a team that will hang around if we didn’t approach the game in the correct way.

“The first half was a non-event, but in the second half we showed what we can do, sharing the ball around and playing proper defence. In the end the final result was what it should have been.”

Giants’ lanky forward David Kadiri was allowed open paths to the basket for several easy lay ups. George Beamon, returning from his recent ankle injury, was Wolves’ only consistent response in the early going.

Fellow American Trayvon Palmer showed similar liveliness to steal the ball at the halfway-line and race down court for a 29-20 lead by a couple of minutes into the second quarter.

But Manchester would not stay down. Kadiri continued to connect and dangerous guard Ingus Bankevics sank his fourth three-pointer to keep them in contention.

Worcester seven-footer Dallin Bachynski inked the scoresheet for the first time as the second half opened. Michael Ojo rattled in a double of outside scores in under a minute. At six minutes into the half Ojo floated home his third triple and Worcester began to pull clear at 65-52.

Captain Alex Navajas fired a bullet assist to Elvisi Dusha, Beamon pointed to his muscles after another score and Wolves rolled into a decisive 78-57 third quarter advantage.

The final period saw more of the same. Big men Robert Gilchrist and Bachynski took command close to the hoop while their teammates patrolled the perimeter for a series of steals. Gilchrist excited a big crowd with a reverse dunk and then brought spectators to their feet with an even-more thrilling slam preceded by a dazzling spin around dance.

All seven of Worcester’s main players achieved double-figure scoring. Ojo and Beamon led the way with 21 points apiece, followed by Palmer on 18. Gilchrist tallied 16 points, Bachynski notched 11 while Dusha and Navajas each totalled 10 points.

Wolves can now turn their attention to their BBL Cup Final appearance at Arena Birmingham on Sunday 28 January (tip off 3.30), against Cheshire Phoenix.

James added: “We’ll now put all our focus on Cheshire. Some people may have been looking past today’s game, but we eventually got things right. If anything, it’s reminded us that we have to play for a full forty minutes in every match.

“There’s going to be a massive 10,000 crowd in Birmingham and I’m expecting a huge number of those people to be supporting Worcester. We need to prepare as well as we possibly can this week and hopefully everyone will bring their A-game and we can bring the cup home.”

Match report by Colin Taylor

Image credit Razorlight Imagery