Teesside Lions 64-65 Worcester Wolves

Sunday 03 December 2023

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves are back on the winning trail after returning from a long road trip to Teesside Lions celebrating a nail-biting 65-64 victory.

Defying a three-game losing skid and a slew of injuries, Wolves had to dig deep to break a 58-58 tie entering the last two minutes of the afternoon and move their National Basketball Division Two record to four wins against five losses.

Playmaker Peter Palmer notched seven early points to push Worcester 10-6 ahead by the eighth minute of the match.

The back-and-forth nature of the contest saw the teams held together at 14-14 by the close of the first quarter.

Lions had moved 24-19 in front at midway through the second period before Palmer stole the ball to set up a Humberto Ferreira basket and then pulled up from the outside to re-establish a level game.

Akai Rose joined the action to take over point-guard duties, debuting on the scoresheet before aiding Emmanuel Yeboah to reach double-figure scoring and the visitors to stride into half-time with a 34-27 advantage.

The opening seven points of the second half all went the way of the hosts to produce another even score-line after three minutes had elapsed.

Teesside entered the final quarter with a slender 47-45 lead as the sides continued to swap punches.

James Harrop stepped up to break the latest deadlock in the day’s final couple of minutes and when Eben Effah slammed the ball through the hoop for a 63-58 cushion it looked as if Wolves may have sealed the win.

But lively Lions forward Luca Gaillet drew matters back to 63-61 with 17 seconds remaining before Effah held his nerve to slot in a couple of free throws.

Teesside’s young Frenchman sank a three-pointer to leave his side just a single point in arrears with only five seconds to play but Worcester were able to see out the last ticks of the clock.

Palmer shone in the statistics with a 19 points and ten rebounds double-double display. Effah and Ferreira narrowly missed grabbing the same honour when recording 9/10 and 7/9 points/rebounds performances respectively. Yeboah contributed 14 points to the scoring.

Wolves return to the University of Worcester Arena next Saturday 09 December (tip off 7.30pm), when they welcome title-contending Manchester Magic to the city.

Purchase your tickets for the game here