Worcester Wolves 104-46 Stockport Falcons

Sunday 08 October 2023

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves overwhelmed Stockport Falcons in their opening fixture of this year’s National Cup at the University of Worcester Arena on Sunday.

Having already accumulated a thumping 53-18 advantage by half-time, Division Two Wolves found little difficulty in racking up a 104-46 final score-line against their lower-tier opponent.

Stockport had their moment in the sun with a three-pointer to open proceedings before a double of Tom Grayling hooks moved the hosts ahead.

First-quarter highlights included a two-handed Humberto Ferreira slam following a mid-court steal and a bullet assist from James Turner to set up a simple conversion for James Harrop.

A 23-12 lead entering the second period accelerated on the back of a barrage of long-range shooting, with Turner in particular having the hot hand as he connected from alternate corners for a quartet of successes.

Coach Dean Blake took the opportunity to spread minutes across his squad with all eleven available players now inking the scoresheet to contribute to a very comfortable 84-35 advantage with ten minutes remaining.

By the final buzzer Harrop and Emmanuel Yeboah led the scoring with thirteen points apiece. Turner stood on a dozen points, followed by four players – Grayling, Jacob Dearman, Eben Effah and Aryan Davoodi – each tabbing ten points.

“No disrespect to Stockport but I would always have expected to have won this game,” said Blake. “I’m really much more concerned with how we played rather than the final result.”

“The discipline that we can employ as a team and how we can work together will determine how we perform for the season ahead. While I’m obviously pleased with the win, we didn’t exercise that discipline as much as we should have today.”

Making it through to the next round of the National Cup came as a welcome fillip for Wolves the day after falling to a 69-56 defeat at Bristol Basketball United.

“Better teams will punish the sort of mistakes we made at times today and that’s what happened at Bristol,” added Blake. “We didn’t have the discipline to slow the game down and play with more poise and we paid the price with a defeat.”

Wolves turn to the challenge of a trip to St Helens Saints next Sunday 15 October (5pm). Saints were beaten finalists in last season’s Division Two Playoff Final against City of Birmingham Rockets.

The following weekend, on Saturday 21 October (7.30pm), Wolves return to the University of Worcester Arena to host Derbyshire Arrows.