Newcastle Eagles 86-83 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves missed a chance to move up from seventh place in the British Basketball League when narrowly losing out at second-placed Newcastle Eagles on Tuesday.

A slow start saw Wolves fall 36-45 by half-time, before a rampaging third quarter closed the gap to just 66-67.

After a see-saw final period the visitors trailed 83-86 in the last minute but allowed Eagles to snatch successive offensive rebounds and dampen Worcester’s opportunity to complete a comeback.

Coach Paul James felt his team lacked intensity at several points of the game, saying: “We were slow out of the blocks and let Newcastle get too many easy scores. We finally got going in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win.

“But then we let them take charge at the end. When they missed consecutive shots but still grabbed the rebounds it killed off the game.”

Alex Navajas continued his tradition of dominating in the early going, slotting home a highly-impressive five baskets in the same number of minutes. But with scant scoring support from anywhere else his side fell 17-24 behind entering the second quarter.

New point-guard George Marshall sank a triple then scored again after stealing the ball, levelling matters at 24-24. Again Worcester’s offense stagnated, leaving Newcastle to accumulate a healthy interval lead.

Former Wolves stalwart Jamal Williams twice stood in the path of Dallin Bachynski, resulting in a double of offensive fouls called against the seven-footer and limiting his further involvement in the contest.

However, George Beamon took advantage of the increase in space close to the hoop to drive to an eye-popping 16 third-quarter points and put the match back on the boil.

At four minutes remaining Palmer tipped in a Marshall miss to nudge Worcester 77-75 ahead. Not to be subdued, Newcastle responded with a 10-1 tear to retake the initiative.

A frantic last few seconds saw the ball slung from one player to another until last- man-up Navajas was forced to heave up a desperation shot that clanged off the front of the rim.

Beamon led the scoring with 22 points. Navajas tallied a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds while Palmer did likewise, notching 10 points and grabbing 11 boards. Marshall contributed 15 points.

Wolves are next in action when they face the same opponents at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday 13 April. Tickets are available here

“We will need to play with more rhythm and with more purpose,” added James.

“We have to make sure that we get Dallin more involved and everyone will have to play with a lot more energy.”

Match report by Colin Taylor
Image credit Razorlight Imagery