Manchester Magic 67-59 Worcester Wolves

Saturday 9th March 2024

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves missed out on the chance to grab a victory in the final road match of their National Basketball League Division Two season at Manchester Magic on Saturday.

With six minutes remaining eighth-placed Wolves and third-placed Magic stood level at 54-54 before a late flourish enabled the hosts to see out a 67-59 success.

“We did well to stay with Manchester for most of the game,” said Coach Dean Blake. “We stuck to our game-plan of forcing them into shooting from the outside and that largely worked for us until late on.

“It was a close game for the most part with neither team getting a handle on it until the last quarter.”

Aryan Davoodi featured in the early exchanges between the teams, twice setting up baskets for Matei Balteanu and dancing one way and then the other for his own points.

A powerful drive from Emmanuel Yeboah nudged Worcester 16-15 in front entering the second quarter.

By half-time it was Manchester’s turn to take the box seat with a slender 29-27 advantage.

A double of Yeboah three-pointers reversed the lead before Magic threatened to establish daylight between the sides, pushing out to a 48-40 lead approaching the last minute of the third period.

Peter Palmer stepped up with a triple and Balteanu battled to more inside scores to drag the score-line back towards parity, with Manchester just a single point to the good at 48-47.

Magic’s effervescent forward pairing of Tyme Regent-Bascombe and Andre Gayle combined for all but three of their team’s final output as they dominated the evening’s closing minutes.

Balteanu and Yeboah led the visitors scoring with 14 and 13 points respectively, supported by 11 points from Wilfrid Santhe.

Wolves now move on to play their final fixture of the season tomorrow afternoon (5pm), Sunday 10 March, at the University of Worcester Arena against Derbyshire Arrows.

“There’s forty minutes left there for us to compete,” added Blake. “It’s important that that we give the players who are graduating and moving on, and have shown commitment to our programme for the last three years or more, a game to be proud of. We want them all to go out on a high.”