Worcester Wolves 67-89 Sheffield Sharks

Worcester Wolves stay rooted to the foot of the British Basketball League after suffering a 67-89 pounding from Sheffield Sharks at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

Wolves had already fallen behind by double-digits at the end of the first quarter and the deficit only widened thereafter as a result of numerous turnovers and the by-now- familiar difficulties in rebounding.

Director of Basketball Ty Shaw confirmed the cause of his team’s seventh consecutive defeat, saying:

“Giving up more than twenty offensive rebounds and more than twenty turnovers – you can’t win a basketball game doing that. We’re repeating the same old story.”

A Robert Crawford triple gave Worcester their only lead at 5-2 as the game began. But Sheffield’s stout British forward Rob Marsden soon muscled his way to a quartet of close-to-the-basket scores and moved his side in front.

Darell Combs drove to the hoop to open the second period and then threw the ball high in the air for Filip Kramer to dunk, reducing the hosts’ arrears to 25-30.

However a spell of careless ball-handling gifted the Sharks easy breakaway points and allowed them to pull away to a 48-34 half-time advantage.

Marsden again imposed his presence to snatch the first six points of the second-half and Worcester continued to gift the ball to their opponents, sending the game out of reach at 47-67 entering the final ten minutes.

Though frequently outnumbered, Kramer battled hard to maintain his inside position, and speedy guard Jordan Whelan hustled for a series of scores but, with scant impact from elsewhere, Sheffield were able to ease to a comfortable win.

Kramer dominated Wolves’ statistics with 19 points and 16 rebounds while Whelan’s 21 points was the only other significant number.

Wolves take a break from league action to visit London City Royals in the first round of the BBL Cup on Saturday (7.30), boosted by the impending arrival of 6 feet 7 inch American forward Deshawn Freeman.

“He’ll bring fresh energy and intensity and will be an exciting addition to our team,” explained Shaw. “I think it’ll be too much to ask him to step in straightaway on Saturday, but we’ll see how things go and he’ll definitely figure in our plans for next Friday.”

Next Friday will see Wolves travel to top-of-the-table Newcastle Eagles. After that they will return to the University of Worcester Arena on Friday 16 November to host London Lions.

“I can’t say enough about the support we’re getting from the fans despite our record,” added Shaw. “They’re deserving of a little bit better care of the ball and little bit more work on rebounding.”