Friday 01 March 2013 – Worcester Wolves vs Leicester Riders

The first leg of the BBL Trophy semi-final takes place at the University of Worcester on Friday (tip off 7.30pm) as the home-town Wolves host the Leicester Riders.

The second leg will take place in Leicester on Saturday evening (tip off 7.30pm), with the aggregate winner progressing to the final at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Saturday March 9 where they will meet either Sheffield Sharks or Cheshire Phoenix.

It will be the third meeting of the season between the two sides, but the first in Worcester, and the Wolves will be looking for their first victory of the campaign against Riders. The first match-up between the Midlands rivals came in October at the John Sandford Sports Centre with Riders running out 79-61 winners, but it was a much tighter game when the sides met in January as Riders won 89-82. .

The Wolves will be looking to seal their first ever spot in the BBL Trophy final with their semi-final place in 2008 their best previous performance, while Riders were runners-up in 1992 and 2006.

Riders have already won the BBL Cup this season and sit top of the Championship table with a 20-2 record, while Wolves are still challenging for a top four place with 15 wins from 24 games.

Wolves’ coach Paul James rates the Riders highly: “Rob Paternostro has done a really good job in putting together a very strong, athletic and talented team; they are as good as they come this season. The key to their success is down to the depth in the squad, but also you have to look at Andrew Sullivan who is without question the glue to this team.

“We have played them twice away and lost both times. We did not play anywhere near to our potential on either occasion and were unable to compete on any level. In contrast, I thought that they took advantage of the situation very well and deserved the wins they got.”

James rejects any idea that playing the same team twice in as many days, as well as the two-leg nature of the tie will affect his coaching style: “It doesn’t change anything. It’s just a longer form of the game. First half played at Worcester and second at Leicester, but it’s safe to say this is a massive weekend for the Wolves and our organisation’s history. I will coach the game to win, just like every game we go into. I will do my homework and have the team prepared for what could be a fantastic two game series.”

The Wolves coach was clearly delighted with last Friday’s home win against Surrey Heat: “We were outstanding. Everything came together on the day and we dominated them in every area of the game, something that we had not been able to do in our previous two meetings. Alex Owumi, Kai Williams and Stan Ocitti all played well and special mention for young Kalil Irving who also had an outstanding game and impresses me every time he steps on the court. Ultimately it was a very good team performance.”

The Wolves coach completed a good weekend with a win at Durham Wildcats and James was pleased with his side’s staying-power: “This was a game where we had to hang tough against a good Durham team. They pushed us all the way and we really had to stay focused for the entire game. Alex Owumi had another very good game as did Stan Ocitti and Kai Williams, but Carlos Fernandez had a fantastic game scoring 14 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists.”

Riders’ big man Anthony Rowe admits that back-to-back games against the same team in successive nights is difficult for players: “Physically it’s tough; none of us are getting any younger. But it’s the same for both sides. The two-leg situation can be a catch-22 situation depending how the first game does. If you beat a team well, they can either fold in the second game or come back with all guns blazing. It just depends how a team reacts. It’s a different situation to a normal game.”