Worcester Wolves 79-86 Encon Derbyshire Arrows

Saturday 8th February 2025

By Colin Taylor

It was a game of two halves at the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday as Worcester Wolves dropped to an 86-79 defeat against sharpshooting Derbyshire Arrows.

Wolves held onto a 45-37 interval lead before Derbyshire showed the form that has propelled them to third place in National Basketball League Division Two by turning the tables on their hosts with a blitz of long-distance scoring.

Jacob Dearman and Fin Rennie three-pointers opened the game in confident fashion.

Wilfrid Santhe slid the ball across for James Davis to convert and the latter similarly gifted a basket for Rennie.

More outside shooting accuracy from Dearman and Santhe pushed Worcester 27-23 ahead by the close of the first quarter.

Emmanuel Yeboah marked his return from injury with a solo drive to increase the home advantage.

Yeboah twice handed off to Dume Okibe and when Dearman cleverly set up Dejaun Antonio a 37-26 lead had been established.

However, Wolves’ free-scoring nature deserted them after half-time. Contrastingly, Arrows now found their shooting boots.

Lithuanian livewire Titas Berzinis spearheaded the comeback with consecutive triples and a busy spell of assists, blocks and rebounds.

Over six minutes of the second half elapsed before Worcester managed to score from the field, with Derbyshire now 53-49 in front.

Yeboah pogoed up to put back his own miss and draw the teams into a 59-59 tie as the final period began.

But Derbyshire rained in a half-dozen last quarter three-point successes while, at the same time, Wolves spurned a chance to keep matters close by settling into a pattern of make-one-miss-one at the free-throw line.  

Santhe led the scoring with 22 points. Antonio completed a double-double display by notching 18 points as well as pulling down 12 rebounds.

“The reality is that, for various reasons, we haven’t played up to our potential this season,” rued Worcester coach Dean Blake.

“Derbyshire are a top-three team running with the same players every week and are really connected.

“In the first half not all of those guys played well, but in the second half they stepped up. We haven’t benefited from that same sort of connectiveness and it tells by this time of the year.”

A minute’s silence was held prior to tip-off to honour four students at the University of Essex who lost their lives in a road accident last weekend. Blake expressed his condolences for what took place.

“What happened last week puts everything that we do into perspective,” said Blake. “We’re really fortunate that we get all the opportunities to go across the country to play basketball and do things we love.

“Massive condolences to everyone at Essex and other clubs connected and related to those who tragically lost their lives.”   

Wolves’ next match will be back at the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday 22 February (7.30pm), hosting Manchester Magic.