Friday 29 March 2013 Worcester Wolves 89-69 Plymouth Raiders

Worcester Wolves bounced back in fine style from their recent three-game slump when overcoming Plymouth Raiders 89-69 on Friday. A large bank-holiday crowd at the University of Worcester delighted in seeing the Wolves rampage to a 33-15 first quarter lead and then fend off a late surge from their visitors.

After Tuesday’s defeat against Newcastle, Wolves’ coach Paul James stated that he would not be afraid to re-jig his line-up in order to get back to winning ways. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Arnas Kazlauskas were the two new faces amongst the starters, at the expense of Kai Williams and Arturas Masiulis.

Two minutes into the match Wolves led 5-2, before Plymouth power forward Matt Schneck replied. Over the next seven minutes Plymouth could only muster a couple of baskets from the field while having to watch Worcester race to 25 points, fourteen of those being accumulated by stalwart guard Alex Owumi. After Owumi’s second triple the Wolves led 19-6 and Raiders called for a time out. Straight from the re-start, Owumi nailed another. Masiulis joined the fray with a minute remaining in the first quarter and immediately opened his scoring account to move matters to 30-10.

Three minutes into the second period Masiulis swatted away a shot attempt from point guard Drew Lasker and a moment later sank his own shot to increase his side’s lead to 43-21. The host’s cushion stayed steady as the first half wound down, with Williams regaining his scoring touch to tally Wolves’ final five points and move the scoreboard to 52-32.

Returning from the interval, it was now the turn of the Wolves to misfire on offence as their opponents turned the defensive screw. Five points from Owumi and three points from Masiulis were the only reply to a healthy 19 points for the Raiders. Lasker sandwiched a three-pointer amongst two close range makes, and the Plymouth run was iced by a triple from Jamal Williams, the elder brother of Kai, to reduce the arrears to 61-51.

The deficit was further lessened after a burst of activity from Raiders’ centre Andreas Schreiber. A pinpoint pass from Lasker was slammed through the hoop by Schreiber and he then rose up to block an Ocitti shot. After notching another score the game stood at 67-60, and coach James called for a halt to proceedings with seven minutes to play.

Prezzie-Blue floated home the ball to steady the ship, before Masiulis and Schneck exchanged scores. With four minutes to go, Owumi confidently sank his sixth three-pointer of the evening to widen the Wolves advantage to 75-62.

Playing only a six-man rotation due to injuries, a tiring Plymouth team were unable to respond. Careless control of the ball and a series of wayward shots were eagerly pounced upon by the Wolves. Late triples from Kazlauskas and Ocitti helped increase the margin of victory to 89-69, thrilling home supporters who had been dismayed by a double of lacklustre performances only a few days before.

Paul James was pleased to see his team emerge from their recent slide, saying: “It was good to break the cycle of defeats. We came out with a lot of passion, a lot of commitment, and started to play the way we should as a team. We shot the ball well in the first half, weathered a Plymouth comeback, and shot the ball well again in the last quarter. It was a well-deserved win.”

Looking ahead to the next game for the Wolves, a trip to Glasgow Rocks on Sunday, James commented: “We’ll go to Glasgow with a lot of confidence. We just need to keep things simple, move the ball, share the ball, play hard and put in a winning effort.”

Both Owumi and Ocitti registered double-doubles of points and rebounds. Owumi notched 24 points and grabbed ten rebounds, with Ocitti hitting 12 points with 14 boards. Prezzie-Blue tallied 14 points, with Masiulis and Kazlauskas scoring 12 points each. Lasker led the Plymouth scorers with 16 points.

The final home game of the regular season for the Wolves takes place next Friday evening, when table-topping Leicester Riders will visit the University of Worcester.