Worcester Wolves 78-77 Myerscough Academy

Sunday 19th March 2023

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves had to battle hard to keep their grip on third position in National Basketball League Division Two when welcoming Myerscough Academy to the University of Worcester Arena on Sunday.

Wolves trailed for most of the meeting until finally getting their noses in front in the last quarter and having to survive a last-second buzzer-beater in order to snatch a 78-77 success.

“The biggest issue was that it takes the whole team to play defence and we just didn’t come together enough to stop Myerscough’s attacks,” said Wolves coach Dean Blake.

“To be honest we’re lucky to have got away without losing today.”

Lucas McGregor and Ian Vivero-Rodriguez combined for all but two of Worcester’s first quarter points, with a double of McGregor threes holding Myerscough to a 28-27 edge.

Jacob Dearman engaged in a neat one-two move with Tom Grayling to tie matters at 30-30 before Myerscough once more took control and pushed into a 48-40 half-time lead.

Wilfrid Santhe and Liam Langridge-Barker sank triples soon after the break but the visitors continued their own hot streak from distance to maintain a 66-59 third period advantage.

The final quarter saw Myerscough unable to prevent repeated McGregor thrusts to the hoop. Evan Longman stood straight to take successive charges from attackers and so regain possession, aiding Wolves ascendancy.

In the dying moments the hosts spurned several chances to kill off their opponents and then had to join fans in watching through their fingers as the ball bounced upwards off the basket and thankfully avoided dropping back through.

McGregor with 30 points and Vivero-Rodriguez with 23 dominated the home scoring.

Wolves are back at the University of Worcester Arena this Friday 24th March (7.30pm) to close out their regular-season fixtures against second-placed St Helens Saints.

“Neither of us can alter our league position but we’ll both want to put our best feet forward going into the playoffs,” added Blake.