Sunday 10 March 2013 – Cheshire Phoenix vs Worcester Wolves

Two sides who had the bitter taste of BBL Trophy semi-final defeat last week meet on Sunday afternoon as Cheshire Phoenix host Worcester Wolves at Northgate Arena (tip off 5.30pm), with BBL Championship points at stake.

Phoenix suffered a heavy second-leg loss at One Health Sharks Sheffield while Wolves lost a thriller over two legs against Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders. Both sides will now turn their attentions to finishing the regular season strongly.

Cheshire are one place out of the play-offs in joint ninth with a 9-18 record, while the Wolves are still challenging for a top four finish and head into a weekend that sees them host London Lions on Friday evening in joint-fifth with 15 wins from 24 games.

Phoenix will aim to avoid a season sweep against the Wolves, having struggled in their two previous games against Paul James’ team. They were hammered 98-59 at home in October before going down 97-84 in the Midlands a month later.

Cheshire coach Matt Lloyd is expecting a tough game for his team on Sunday: “Wolves are a big team and it has been a long time since we played them last. Since then, they have made additions to their squad mainly in Sherrad Prezzie-Blue arriving along with Kai Williams.

“Their main players are hard to identify as they have many effective players within their roster. Alex Owumi, Prezzie-Blue, Williams then the two Lithuanians inside do a terrific job of stretching the defence.
“Last time we played them we did well as a team for three quarters, but we switched off in the last quarter. However, we did a great job of switching our defences. It caused confusion for them and took time out of their clock.”

Wolves’ coach Paul James isn’t taking anything for granted despite those two wins against Phoenix: “Cheshire are almost a totally different team from when we last played them. They got to the Trophy semi-final, so they have something about them.

“Chez Marks, Jerome Gumbs and Shawn Myers are all very good players and have had big game this season. When we last played them, I think we controlled the game well and we need to do the same again.”

Myers heads into Sunday’s game looking for one more assist to reach the 500 mark in BBL Championship games.
Lloyd had praise for his players despite the disappointment of losing in Sheffield: “Against Sharks we gave a creditable performance considering the situation we were in. All of the guys played well. Although we came out with a loss, and they knocked us out of the Trophy, we didn’t do ourselves any harm.”

Lloyd is hoping to have a full-strength squad available this weekend: “Jerome Gumbs is recovering from his bout of flu which made him bed-ridden for about nine days. He is on the mend but we are not rushing him back as it can return just as bad if not worse. Chez Marks will be back with us towards the beginning of this week after spending important time with his family.”