Worcester Wolves 76-67 Myerscough Basketball Academy

Friday 23rd February 2024

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves thrilled a packed University of Worcester Arena on Friday with a pulsating 76-67 comeback victory against Myerscough Basketball Academy.

Over 1100 fans, one of the biggest Worcester attendances since moving into the National Basketball League, watched a hesitant Wolves fall 36-29 behind by half-time before finding enough second half rhythm to take the spoils.

“That was a very hard-fought win,” admitted Coach Dean Blake. “We got shot opportunities in the first half but weren’t being aggressive enough to finish the shots.

“I told the guys that we needed to play with greater intent and stop allowing them to get the ball off us so easily.

“There was some very good play down the stretch and that allowed us to eventually pull out the win.”

The first five minutes of the evening saw Worcester drop into a 15-4 hole and unable to prevent Myerscough teenage prospect Daniel Nwauzu from dazzling to a quick-fire ten personal points.

Emmanuel Yeboah used a bounce pass from Wilfrid Santhe to open his scoring account and begin the home side’s response.

Another Yeboah basket as the first quarter wound down closed the gap to 19-14.

A spell of careless ball-handling and a pattern of errant shots let Myerscough re-build a 31-21 double-digit lead before Aryan Davoodi sank consecutive three-pointers and Yeboah hit a half-time buzzer-beater to close matters once more.

Determined Santhe and Yeboah drives set the tone for a different Wolves approach after the interval as they scrambled back into the contest.

Yeboah was impeded in the act of shooting a three and made the bonus free throw for an inspiring four-point play and James Harrop drove coast-to-coast to be similarly fouled and take a bonus point, slashing Myerscough’s advantage to just 45-44.

Another Davoodi triple finally edged the hosts ahead and aided a 52-50 lead entering the last quarter.

Surging with confidence, Worcester opened a crowd-pleasing bag of tricks.  Humberto Ferreira stole the ball at midcourt and pounded forwards and upwards for a two-handed flying slam dunk.

Matei Balteanu proved unstoppable close to the basket, the visitors were harassed into wild passes and clock violations and when Santhe shimmied and shook to the hoop the outcome was sealed.

Yeboah and Balteanu led the scoring with 24 and 20 points respectively, with the latter stamping his big man credentials by also pulling down an impressive 13 rebounds.

Wolves return to the University of Worcester Arena next Saturday 02 March (tip off 7.30pm) to host playoff-chasing Teesside Lions.

“Teesside have added some new players and are on a roll of results at the moment so will be another tough opponent,” added Blake.

“But if we come into the match with the right mind-set and can get anything like the huge level of support from the fans we got today then we can do a job.”

You can purchase your tickets for this Saturdays game here.