Worcester Wolves 78-72 Sheffield Arrows

Saturday 20th December 2025

By Colin Taylor

Worcester Wolves gave their fans a festive gift as they came out on top of Sheffield Arrows in a hard-fought encounter at the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday.

Wolves ran out to a comfortable 46-26 half-time lead but then had to withstand a late charge from their opponents that brought them to within a single shot of tying the   contest, ahead of a 78-72 final score-line.

Head coach Dean Blake beamed with a smile as bright as his gaily-coloured Christmas jumper as he described what happened.

“I’m so happy. We had a great start but knew a team as good as Sheffield would have a run back at us,” said Blake.

“They threw a lot of different punches at us but we weathered the storm – I’m really glad we came out on top.”

Arrows boast amongst their numbers the National Basketball League Division One’s leading scorer, Hamza Ibrahim, but Worcester were able to limit the Sheffield man to a mere seven points against his highly-impressive 31 points per game average.

“Hamza has lit up this league but Humberto Ferreira did a great job on him today,” praised Blake. “He came out onto court focused on stopping him and that’s what happened.”

Ferreira was in the thick of the action from the off, kicking the ball out for Daijaun Antonio to sink a triple and dispossessing his opponent to set up another Antonio basket as Wolves sprinted to the evening’s initial nine points.

Two fouls in the opening three minutes led to star American Earl Burgess taking a quick seat on the Worcester bench and giving bustling forward Dume Okibe an early taste of the action.

Okibe responded in style, converting a clever Ferreira hand-off into points and then completing a three-point play to aid a 20-8 first-quarter advantage.

Burgess re-joined matters and soon got to work close to the hoop while Georgios Stergiopoulos twice connected from outside the perimeter to bring about the host’s healthy half-time cushion.

Fired-up Sheffield coach Johny Kelly incurred a technical foul just before the break and his fire may have carried over to a transformed team in the second-half.

Hunkering down on defence and hitting the target with a bunch of three-pointers slashed Wolves lead to 58-49 entering the last period.

Fin Rennie signalled his return from injury with strong downhill drives and Okibe once more proved his worth with powerful inside moves as the home side again broke clear at 75-58 with four minutes remaining.

Approaching the final minute of play a spell of careless ball-handling and Arrows first-year guard Paul Walsh achieving a trio of baskets hauled the visitors back to just 75-72 behind before Worcester held their nerve to seal the win.

Burgess and Okibe both notched double-double honours with 13 points and a dozen and ten rebounds respectively. Emmanuel Yeboah also tabbed 13.

“Our team is deep and anyone can come in and have a good game,” said Blake. “I’m proud of Dume – he works so hard and I’m really happy he was able to put on a display for home fans today.”

Okibe himself was modest about his contribution to the victory. ”Foul trouble gave me an opportunity to come on early. When you have to step up, you step up,” he said.

“But it was my teammates who allowed me to step up. I felt really good and I got a few points today. I just try to do whatever I can to help the team.”

Second-place-in-the-league Wolves now take a break in play until the New Year. They will begin 2026 by hosting top-of-the table Birmingham City University on Friday 09 January in a 7.30pm tip-off at the University of Worcester Arena.

“I want to thank all our fans for their continued support for the club and wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas,” added Blake.

“Right now we’ll focus on taking a break before resuming training in the New Year. And I’ll be looking to keep the players from eating too much turkey.”

Get your tickets for the Worcester Wolves Retro Game on Friday January 9th here or from the University of Worcester Arena box office.