Friday 23 March 2013 Sheffield Sharks 78-73 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves returned to BBL action on Friday after a two-week break and showed distinct signs of rustiness when slipping to a 73-78 defeat at in-form Sheffield Sharks.

During the period while Wolves have been kicking their heels the Sharks have, in stark contrast, played five games and won four of those, including an upset of Leicester Riders to grab the BBL Trophy. Their confidence was clearly on display for their excited fans to see as they raced to a 31-17 first quarter lead, and increased their advantage yet further, to 50-27 by half-time. Although Worcester regained their composure to storm back into the contest in the closing stages, the hole they had already found themselves in was too big a one to climb out of.

Three minutes into the evening Sharks’ point guard BJ Holmes stole the ball and passed to Mike Tuck for the Canadian forward to register his first score, putting his side in front at 6-4. A few moments later the duo combined again for their side to lead 12-5. Over the next four minutes the Wolves defence had no answer to the incessant attacks of Tuck as he romped to a further ten points, the onslaught only ending when he took a well-earned rest on the Sharks bench. In the meantime the Wolves could only muster a mere three field baskets in the opening quarter, a couple from Alex Owumi and one from Arnas Kazlauskas.

If the first ten minutes had not been tortuous enough for the visitors, their ordeal continued until the interval. Numerous shots went awry for the Wolves, while they still struggled to contain Holmes and Tuck. Teenage guard Nick Lewis joined the scoring frenzy with a double of three-pointers and it looked as if there would be no way back into the match for the Wolves.
Coach Paul James shuffled his line-up to begin the second half, with Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Kazlauskas replacing Carlos Fernandez and Arturas Masiulis as starters. There was an immediate effect on the scoreboard. Although Demitrius Jemison initially extended the Sheffield advantage to a whopping 25 points, his side would find themselves forced to take their turn to be ineffective on offence as they spluttered in adding only a measly seven further points during the third quarter.

Prezzie-Blue opened his scoring account with a triple, and forward Stan Ocitti was also off the mark shortly afterwards. Three points from Kai Williams reduced the Sheffield lead to 53-39 after four minutes and signalled a time-out from their concerned coach Atiba Lyons. Going into the last period Lyons’ charges had seen their lead lessened further to 59-50.

Two points for Ocitti was followed by another long-distance shot sailing home for Prezzie-Blue to bring matters to 59-55. However, Tuck was finally able to add to his first half points tally and then watched his forward partner Jemison hit a trio of successive scores to quickly re-establish a double digit advantage, at 66-55 with six minutes remaining.

Nevertheless, the Wolves refused to be bowed and once more clawed their way back. With two minutes to go the score stood at 70-65. BJ Holmes notched a basket but was matched by Owumi, for 72-67 with just over a minute left. Holmes score again, but this time it was Kazlauskas who responded with three points to put the match to 74-70.

Holmes then took too many steps in fumbling the Sharks’ next possession. An inbounded ball from Williams found Owumi who swished home a three-pointer to close a once-huge deficit to just a single point at 74-73 with twelve seconds remaining. A time-out from Lyons was enough to ensure that his players did not turn over possession, and Wolves were forced to foul their opponents in a vain attempt to regain the ball, allowing the hosts to secure the victory from the free-throw line.

Wolves’ assistant coach Alex Radu summarised the night’s proceedings, saying: “We unfortunately allowed the Sharks to get away early and had to play catch-up the rest of the game. We fought back well, but couldn’t quite do enough.”
Looking ahead to the visit of Manchester Giants to the University of Worcester on Saturday, Radu pledged a better overall performance, adding: “We will put this game behind us and look to get back to securing the wins we need for a high play-off placing.”

Owumi was the only double-digit scorer for Wolves, hitting 24 points. Tuck and Holmes led the Sheffield scorers with 23 and 16 points respectively.