Glasgow Rocks 91-86 Worcester Wolves

Sunday 08 March 2020

Worcester Wolves came close to following up Friday’s win at Newcastle Eagles when travelling north of the border to Glasgow Rocks, leaders of the British Basketball League, on Sunday.

A seesaw encounter had the teams tied up at 78-78 as regulation time expired. With two minutes left in overtime, deadlock still held firm at 84-84 before Glasgow finally grabbed the upper hand to see out a gripping 91-86 victory.

There was an inside-outside contrast to the first quarter. Worcester forward Jordan Williams took control of matters close to the hoop for a trio of scores while Rocks’ point guard Greg Pryor bagged three long-distance successes.

Fittingly, Pryor broke a 21-21 tie with another triple as the second quarter began. With his team-mates also repeatedly finding space to connect from beyond the arc Glasgow established the widest gap of the match at 43-34 a couple of minutes before half-time.

Cortez Edwards used the last five seconds of the half to speed coast-to-coast and close the advantage to 45-40.

Wolves chipped away at their host’s lead after the break with Julius Van Sauers hogging the spotlight in the last three minutes of the third period. Two scores nudged his side 54-53 ahead. After engaging with Jordan Williams for a give-and-go basket he profited from a pinpoint Mark Hughes assist and hooked another ball home to finalise a lightning ten-point personal haul.

A confident Hughes drive kept the visitors 65-62 ahead at the start of the last quarter.

Back and forth scoring put Rocks 78-75 in front with a half-minute remaining. Edwards nailed a three-pointer to level the contest and then successfully saw off his counterpart Pryor’s side-to-side dribbles to deny a regulation-time winner.

Overtime saw Jordan Williams twice overpower flailing defenders for an 84-80 advance before Glasgow fought back and held on to their final ascendancy.

Jordan Williams led the scoring with 18 points, followed by 15 apiece for Van Sauers and Amir Williams, with the latter also grabbing 13 rebounds.

Hughes and Edwards both posted 14 points, with Maarten Bouwknecht supplying 10.

Third-paced Wolves now return home to the University of Worcester Arena to greet fifth-placed Sheffield Sharks next Friday 13 March (7.30).