Worcester Wolves 75-103 Leicester Warriors

Saturday 7th December 2024

By Colin Taylor

There was no pre-Christmas cheer on offer for Worcester Wolves this weekend as they dropped consecutive matches in National Basketball League Division Two.

A 103-75 beating at home by Leicester Warriors on Saturday was swiftly followed by a 72-49 reversal at Myerscough Academy the next day.

Back at the University of Worcester Arena after a month away, there were no home comforts for Wolves as Warriors ruthlessly showcased the fine form that has positioned them in second place in the table.

Seeing his side fall 13-9 behind four minutes into the evening, Worcester point guard Wilfrid Santhe stepped into the limelight to wrestle back control.

After producing a steal to set up a Jacob Dearman score, Santhe again got in the way of a Leicester pass to this time put James Davis on the scoresheet. A dribble drive completed a one-minute surge that propelled Wolves 17-13 ahead.

However, all the hard work was soon undone as Warriors set off on a surge of their own to end the first period 32-19 to the good.

Jeremy Lievin made the most of his 6 foot 10 inch frame to barge his way to a handy nine pre-interval points but Leicester were successful in supressing attacks from other quarters to maintain a 50-37 margin of advantage.

Davis and fellow forward Dume Okibe hustled to the opening points of the second half but the visitors were again able to do enough to hold onto a 72-59 cushion entering the final quarter.

Stagnation at the offensive end now saw Worcester struggle to add to their total while, by contrast, Warriors hit a purple patch driving to the basket or sinking open three-pointers as they mercilessly thumped their way over the winning line.

Dearman led the home scoring with 15 points, closely followed by Lievin’s 14. Davis was the only other double-digit scorer with a dozen points.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump to pull the match back to single digits,” said Wolves’ coach Dean Blake. “I think that affected our psyche and before you knew it Leicester had blown things up into a thirty-point game.”

“I thought a lot of the effort from our last match at Manchester carried over to this match but unfortunately Leicester were just too good for us.”

Wolves now move on to the considerable challenge of visiting unbeaten league-leaders Bristol Academy Flyers next Saturday 14 December (3pm).

Following a festive break, Wolves will return to the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday 04 January (7pm) to take on Bristol Basketball United.