Leicester Riders 89-82 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves saw their recent three-game unbeaten run come to an end at title-challenging Leicester Riders on Saturday. In a tightly-refereed match the Wolves were outpaced early and went into half-time with a 13-point deficit, before storming back into the contest to level the score with five minutes left, only to lose out 89-82 by the end.

It was a night of disappointment for Wolves’ Arturas Masiulis who was coming into the match with high hopes after being named in the latest British Basketball League Team of the Week. In only the opening three minutes Masiulis saw his first pass intercepted by Leicester’s quicksilver guard Zaire Taylor, then missed his initial two shot attempts, and was also called for consecutive fouls.

Just a couple of minutes later Wolves’ coach Paul James was forced to request a time out with his side trailing 14-5 and with his influential guard Alex Owumi also having been awarded a quick double of fouls. After an Owumi triple and when Masiulis had opened his account, the deficit had been reduced to 17-12, but matters then worsened. Firstly Masiulis was benched after his third infraction, and then Owumi accumulated a similar penalty count when whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul after a wayward elbow hit Leicester’s veteran forward Yorick Williams.

Although Williams missed both of the resultant free throws, his team-mate Jamell Anderson was left unguarded to grab an offensive rebound and see his side go 24-12 in front. In the last minute of the opening quarter coach James was left seething at the match officials when watching his floor general Sherrad Prezzie-Blue become the third of his charges to total a trio of personal fouls.

Slovakian forward Pavol Losonsky opened the second quarter with a long-range basket to take Leicester 31-20 ahead. Nearly four minutes of the period had elapsed before Worcester registered their first score from the field, by which time the home side’s advantage had accelerated to 38-24.

While Prezzie-Blue and Owumi were able to remain on court despite their foul situation, Masiulis was not as fortunate when he received his penultimate warning just before the interval, after a mid-court tussle with Riders’ Anthony Rowe.

The Wolves came out of the break in highly-determined fashion, showing their sizeable travelling support the form that has pushed them to the edge of a top-four spot in the league table. A re-shuffled Worcester line-up employed a zone defence forcing their opponents into hurried outside shots, at the same time capitalising on breakaway scores of their own. Triples from Owumi and Prezzie-Blue were part of a 16-2 run that blasted the Wolves into their first lead of the night at 52-53 after five minutes of the period.

Leicester recovered some of their composure to enter the last ten minutes of action 63-57 ahead, but once more saw their advantage eroded by the dogged play of their opponents. Recent Worcester recruit Kai Williams nailed his first basket since the opening quarter to take the score to 69-66, and then floated home a basket from distance. Two free throws from Prezzie-Blue were enough to tie the game at 71-71 with five minutes to play.

Five points from Taylor helped Leicester regain the lead at 78-72 with two minutes remaining, causing coach James to call time out. At just over a minute to play the victors had still not been decided when Wolves’ forward Arnas Kazlauskas converted his first and only triple of the match at his sixth attempt, to take the score to 81-77.

However, Worcester’s spirit was finally broken when the impressive Taylor sunk his fourth three-pointer to push the score back out to 84-77. Although the Wolves continued to hustle to slow the game clock down the final 89-82 outcome was established from the free-throw line.

Despite the defeat, Paul James was still willing to support his players overall performance, saying: “We started to fight in the third quarter and came back well. We fought hard, had a chance towards the end and showed some great spirit. Overall it was a good effort.” James was diplomatic when expressing his views about how the match officials called the game, adding: “In the first quarter we were refereed out of it.”

Prezzie-Blue and Owumi held top-scoring honours for the Wolves with 26 and 23 points respectively. Taylor led the Leicester scorers with 25 points.

Wolves now take a two-week break of action, before facing London Lions at the University of Worcester on Friday 18 January.