Saturday 16 February 2013 Worcester Wolves 98-91 London Lions

In stark contrast to the demolition of Mersey Tigers the night before, Worcester Wolves found themselves embroiled in a dogfight at the University of Worcester on Saturday. It took two periods of overtime before the Wolves were finally able to see off the challenge of a determined London Lions 98-91.

The Wolves controlled matters for most of the forty minutes of regulation time, but allowed the Lions to cling to their shirt tails in the final moments and tie the game on a Perry Lawson lay-up as time expired. In the first period of extra play the Wolves again looked to have clinched the victory until the Lions once more took the last score, this time from their England International forward Orlan Jackman. It was only after double- overtime that the home side were able to pull clear as their visitors lost players due to foul trouble.

The first quarter began with both sides scoring freely. After six minutes Kai Williams dunked home a pass from Stan Ocitti and the Wolves led 12-9. A minute later both Williams and Ocitti had hit triples and the advantage had increased to 18-11. As the quarter clock wound down Arturas Masiulis found himself a long way from the basket and with no option but to fire up a shot. It floated home to register an extremely rare three-pointer for the Wolves’ big man and push the home advantage to 23-17.

London’s Joel Barkers fouled Masiulis as the second quarter opened and then watched him sink the first foul shot but miss the second. However, young Worcester forward Kalil Irving snatched the rebound and passed the ball back to Masiulis who duly converted. At four minutes into the period the Wolves were dealt a temporary blow when influential guard Alex Owumi was forced to take a seat on the bench after committing his third foul when impeding Lions’ captain Mike Martin.

A nine-point cushion was maintained, moving from 28-19 to 42-33 as the half-time interval approached. With a single second left the Wolves held the ball at the side-line, ready to inbound, when Lions’ coach Vince Macauley called a timeout. The ball was thrown in by Williams but cleverly intercepted by Jackman who hurled up a desperation shot as the hooter sounded, banking in to the delight of his coach and team mates.
Ocitti dunked with his first touch of the second half and London’s centre Adrien Sturt responded with a three. An errant pass from Owumi was stolen and slammed home by Lions’ guard Tayo Ogedengbe, moving his side closer at 44-42. After three minutes the scores were tied at 49-49 following another triple from Sturt.

Owumi then registered his first score of the night and quickly followed up with three more scores to help matters to 67-58 with a couple of minutes remaining in the quarter. The Lions again had the final say when Frenchman Mahamoud Diakete nailed a three-pointer from an assist by Barkers.

The early part of the last quarter of regulation time saw alternate scoring from Owumi and Irving as the Wolves held the Lions at bay. Worcester had their biggest lead of the evening at 74-63 midway through the quarter but saw their visitors reel off seven unanswered points over the next three minutes.

Williams broke the drought, but Martin and Ogedengbe answered back. With just nine seconds to go Perry Lawson fouled Owumi who split the resultant free throws to leave his team in front at 79-77. Lawson then sprinted through hesitant Wolves’ defenders to lay the ball in and force overtime.

A nervy extra five minutes ensued with neither side able to claim superiority. The Lions lost Ogedengbe on five fouls and the Wolves lost Lithuanian forward Arnas Kazlauskas for the same reason. Jackman levelled at 86-86 and Williams missed a chance to settle matters.

Irving took the first score of double-overtime and Ocitti was second up after Owumi stole the ball from Jackman. At 91-86 the London resistance finally crumbled after the departure of their captain Martin and their playmaker Lawson. Irving and Owumi completed an epic battle from the foul line.
Paul James was relieved that his team were finally able to overcome the Lions, saying: “We had opportunities to win in both regulation and in the first period of overtime. But it was about time we got a bit of luck and we managed to grind out the win.”

Referring back to the last occasion when Wolves played an overtime match, a loss to Surrey Heat three weeks ago, James commented: “We learnt our lesson from the Surrey game and now hope that this result will carry us through for the rest of the season.”

Ocitti top-scored for Worcester with 21 points, followed by Owumi with 18 points. Kai Williams registered a notable double-double of statistics, nailing 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Jackman and Sturt led the London scorers with 20 and 18 points respectively.

Wolves will have a chance to exact revenge on Surrey Heat when they visit the University of Worcester next Friday. The following Sunday the Wolves will make a trip up to the North East to face the Durham Wildcats. After that the club will see all the excitement of the two-legged BBL Trophy semi-final against Leicester Riders. The home leg will take place on Friday 01 March and supporters are advised to purchase advance tickets if they wish to guarantee admission to what is likely to be a sell-out game.