Friday 05 April 2013 Worcester Wolves 86-58 Leicester Riders

Worcester Wolves cruised to a comfortable 86-58 win on Friday over Leicester Riders in their last regular- season game at the University of Worcester. Having already finished at the top of the British Basketball League, Leicester coach Rob Paternostro made the decision to rest many of his usual starters, leaving the way clear for Wolves to stroll to victory.

Wolves’ 6 foot 11 inch centre Arturas Masiulis grabbed the game’s opening couple of baskets, before a reply from former Worcester centre Barry Lamble. However, Lamble’s points were to be the only score for his team over the first six minutes of the evening, allowing the hosts to amble to a 12-2 lead.

Five successive points from forward Kai Williams and a triple from guard Alex Owumi increased the advantage to 22-5 as the first quarter wound down. Williams was again on the mark as the second period began but then saw his Leicester namesake, ex-England International Yorick Williams, fire in a quartet of long-range scores in just over three minutes, to close matters to 33-20.
From here the Riders’ offence once more dried up, with no one able to support the efforts of a tiring Williams. After seeing one shot blocked and his next attempt hitting nothing but air, he could only watch as Arnas Kazlauskas floated home a three-pointer as the half-time hooter sounded, putting Wolves 44-24 to the good.

The match was well and truly put to bed by midway through the third quarter. Six points from Williams and five from Lamble were all that the Riders could muster while, in contrast, the Wolves continued to rack up easy scores. Sherrad Prezzie-Blue signed off for the night with his fifth triple, and young forward Kalil Irving opened his scoring account with a fierce two-handed dunk. Little-used New Zealander Karl Noyer introduced himself with a three from the right hand corner of the court to close a 25-13 quarter.

Entering the final ten minutes with an unassailable 69-37 advantage, Worcester coach Paul James gave plenty of time to his bench, with Owumi the only starter remaining on the floor. Noyer again impressed when swatting away a Leicester shot attempt and bagging a couple of further scores, while second-team stalwart Albert Ziwa was also able to trouble the scoreboard as the game meandered to its comfortable conclusion.
Despite facing opposition missing several of its key components, James was satisfied with his team’s performance, saying: “Their coach made the decision to rest many of his players and that’s his prerogative. For us it was important that we did not lower our standards and that we did a professional job. We moved the ball well on offence and did well on defence. The hard work we put in during training this week paid off.”

Looking ahead to the Wolves’ final game prior to the playoffs, Saturday’s trip to Plymouth Raiders, James commented: “Plymouth are always tough on their own floor. We need to focus on what we’ve been doing all week in training, stick to our game plan and hopefully come away with the win.”

Masiulis led the Wolves’ scorers with 19 points, while Owumi registered double-double statistics with 14 points and ten rebounds. Williams and Lamble tallied 20 and 14 points respectively for the Riders.

By Sunday the Wolves will know the identity of the side that they will face in the first round of the playoffs. Irrespective of whom their opponents are, the club has confirmed that the home leg of the tie will take place at the University of Worcester on Saturday 13 April, with a 7pm tip-off.