Friday 01 March 2013 BBL Trophy Semi-final 1st leg – Worcester Wolves 73-82 Leicester Riders

Worcester Wolves will need to overturn a nine-point deficit if they are to progress to the final of the BBL Trophy, following a 73-82 defeat against Leicester Riders on Friday. In front of a sell-out crowd at the University of Worcester, the Wolves led 42-31 with a couple of minutes remaining in the first half, but Leicester showed why they are top of the table and unbeaten in their last eleven matches, by roaring back into the contest.

Leicester won the ball from the tip off and saw their Great Britain Olympian Andrew Sullivan nail the first basket of the night. All of Wolves’ first eight points were grabbed by Wolves’ 6 foot 11 inch centre Arturas Masiulis who had little initial trouble in overpowering the smaller Riders’ defenders. Ex-Worcester centre Barry Lamble was pressed into action to replace forward Anthony Rowe, but he also struggled to contain Masiulis, picking up a quick three fouls by the close of the first quarter.

However, at the offensive end, Leicester were able to match the Worcester scoring, edging the first period 19-20. Masiulis was on target again to begin the second quarter, and forwards Stan Ocitti and Arnas Kazlauskas then nailed the hosts’ first triples of the match for a 27-21 advantage.

Not to be outdone, the Riders responded with three-pointers of their own from Pavol Losonsky and Yorick Williams, helping to regain a 27-31 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half. By now Masiulis had been forced to take a seat on the bench after committing his third foul, but Wolves’ guard Alex Owumi was able to pick up the scoring baton. Seven personal points were followed by a bullet pass for young forward Kalil Irving to lay through the hoop.

Clear daylight was established between the teams, at 40-31, when Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, returning from his injury absence, floated home a score from distance. Riders’ coach Rob Paternostro had seen enough and called time-out with just over two minutes left till the half-time interval. From the restart Leicester set off on a 9-4 run to close the half, including seven points from their quicksilver point guard Zaire Taylor.

Further scoring from Masiulis and Owumi doubled their side’s advantage to 50-42 before the Riders once more fought back, aided by a fourth foul for Masiulis, and a similar penalty count for Owumi. The Wolves trailed 58-59 when Kazlauskas was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul on Leicester guard Jorge Calvo, following a clumsy challenge. Both of the resultant free throws were converted and the visitors also profited from their next possession, going into the last ten minutes of the evening with a slender 60-63 lead.
Sullivan hit a triple to open the final quarter, before Owumi responded with a deuce of scores to close matters to 65-66. At four minutes to go the outcome of the tie was still to be decided at 68-69. However, consecutive plays from Taylor were to tip the contest in Leicester’s favour. Firstly he hit a three-pointer, and then thrilled the large band of travelling supporters when executing a flashy reverse lay-up.

Leicester’s six-point cushion was maintained until the dying moments of the match. With just one and a half seconds left on the clock, Wolves’ Carlos Fernandez turned the ball over. A hastily-called time-out from Paternostro gave his team possession in Worcester’s half. Sullivan inbounded the ball to Losonsky who was able to fire in a cruel last-gasp score to punish his opponents.
Wolves’ coach Paul James was disappointed that his side could not capitalise on several leads, commenting: “We had chances to blow the game open, up by eleven points and up by eight points, but failed to take advantage. They scored nearly 30 points off our turnovers and in the end that cost us the game.”

Only Owumi and Masiulis registered in double-figure scoring for Worcester, with 29 points and 16 points respectively. James feels that the first-leg deficit can be pulled back if there is greater all-round scoring in Saturday’s leg at Leicester, saying: “We did well defensively to limit them to 82 points, but just need a couple more of our big guns to have better offensive nights.”
His opposite number Rob Paternostro was keen to downplay the first-leg victory, saying: “We did well, but we’ve only won the first half. We know there is still another 40 minutes to go.

Taylor rattled off 29 points for Leicester, but Paternostro thinks that his team has a number of scoring threats, stating: “Zaire picked his spots. It was his time to shine tonight, but my players share the load so it could be someone else’s time on Saturday.”
Paternostro was impressed with the atmosphere created by a capacity crowd at the University of Worcester, adding “The Worcester crowd were fantastic and created a big-time atmosphere. For the last couple of seasons we have had big attendances in Leicester and it will be the same again tomorrow.”

Saturday’s second leg takes place at the John Sandford Sports Centre, tipping off at 7.30pm.