Worcester Wolves 81-109 St Helens Saints

Sunday 22 October 2023

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves bowed out of the National Cup at the third round stage after a 109-81 defeat at the hands of last season’s Playoff Finalists, St Helens Saints, at the University of Worcester Arena on Sunday.

After staying in the contest for the opening ten minutes of the afternoon, Wolves eventually buckled against the superior experience of a Saints side boasting several BBL veterans.

Worcester co-captain Jacob Dearman drove forward to set the scoreboard ticking and then connected from either corner of the court to keep it moving.

St Helens’ 6’10 centre Ellis Evans performed strongly on the inside but Emmanuel Yeboah and Zak Riabi were both on target from distance to keep matters close.

Humberto Ferreira delighted teammates and fans when swatting away a St Helens attack, restricting the visitors to a 28-25 first-quarter edge.

James Harrop joined the action to reduce the deficit to just a single point before Saints stepped on the gas.

Careless ball-handling was quickly pounced upon to widen the gap to 56-42 by the half-time interval.

Eben Effah thrust aggressively to the basket for an inspirational two points and a bonus straight after the restart, but a further succession of turnovers soon put paid to any hopes of a Wolves comeback.

Entering the final quarter trailing 82-66, only a couple of home players, Ferreira and James Turner, were now able to score from the field, leaving the visiting Merseysiders to coast to victory.

Dearman led the scoring with 19 points, supported by 12 from Yeboah and ten for Ferreira.

Wolves travel to Doncaster Eagles next Saturday 28 October (6pm) before returning to the University of Worcester Arena the following Saturday to host Bristol Academy Flyers.

“We have a good group of guys here,” said Wolves coach Dean Blake. “But today we came up against a very good side stacked with a lot more experience.

“Doncaster next week will be another good team. When the ball goes up at the tip off we’ll be ready to go.”