Leicester Riders 82-81 Worcester Wolves.

Friday 26 February 2021

Worcester Wolves lost out at British Basketball League leaders Leicester Riders in the most agonising of circumstances on Friday.

A late burst of scoring from Lamarr Kimble pushed Wolves 80-77 in front with 36 seconds remaining. With just nine seconds to go the visitors still held sway at 81-79, with their hosts in possession.

Leicester’s BBL Player of the Month for January Geno Crandall drew the attention of defenders before swinging the ball across to find forward Corey Johnson standing in  space to drain his fifth three-pointer of the evening.

A last-gasp shot from Maarten Bouwknecht could do no more than bounce up off the backboard, leaving Riders to celebrate an 82-81 victory.

The back-and-forth nature of the match was set early. Brandon Anderson joined the fray after five minutes, dishing up a basket for Mike Parks and driving to the hoop to draw the sides into a 17-17 tie.

The first action of the second quarter saw Anderson pounce upon a poor inbound pass and allow Micah Elan to edge Worcester 25-23 ahead.

Jordan Williams turned another Anderson assist into a dunk before himself taking on the role of provider for successive slams from reserve centre Daniel Johnson-Thompson.

Leicester coach Rob Paternostro showed his frustration when penalised with a technical foul for dissent a minute before half-time with his charges trailing 46-40.

It was a more-concentrated Riders team that took to the court after the interval. Suffocating defence restricted Worcester to a paltry nine third-quarter points and wrested 60-55 control over to Leicester.

With six minutes to play the home ascendancy maximised at 67-59 before Wolves once more had their turn in the box-seat. Williams leapt highest for a series of offensive rebounds while Kimble shone when making his own shots or setting up scores for his team-mates, ahead of the exciting close to the contest.

Kimble led the scoring with 22 points, supported by 17 from Anderson. Williams compiled a double-double performance of 13 points and 15 rebounds while Parks just missed out on a similar feat in supplying a dozen points and nine boards.

The same combatants will quickly take up arms again this Sunday 28 February at the University of Worcester Arena. The match tips off at 3pm and will be streamed live and for free on Worcester Wolves YouTube channel.