St Helens Saints 69-81 Worcester Wolves

Sunday 8th March 2026

Worcester Wolves’ players, coaches and a bunch of travelling fans danced in celebration after the team was crowned winners of Pool A of National Basketball League Division One on Sunday.

Wolves took to the floor at St Helens Saints knowing that only a win would be good enough to clinch the club’s first honours in four years. A hard-fought 81-69 success finalised a 17-5 win-loss record, the same as runners-up Myerscough Academy, but with the vital decider of having beaten their rivals in both of the season’s meetings.

“I’m just so proud of the players,” declared delighted coach Dean Blake. “We had to come from behind a few times today but it’s testament to the guys that we stuck together and got the win over the line.

“It’s been a long road to get here but all the effort, sacrifice and commitment the guys have shown throughout the season have led to us coming out on top.

“There’s not one player here that we couldn’t have achieved this without.”

Worcester forced St Helens into turning the ball over on their first possession but themselves fell into a spell of careless ball-handling to make for a scrappy first quarter.

Earl Burgess showed typical grit to tip consecutive teammate misses into the basket and Georgios Stergiopoulos slotted home a double of three-pointers to nudge Wolves 17-15 ahead entering the second period.

Jesse Kilara joined the action and soon profited from accepting a slick Daijaun Antonio assist and a hand-off pass from Burgess.

Humberto Ferreira sank a rare triple with the shot-clock about to expire and bustled his way to the hoop to aid a 38-31 half-time away advantage.

However, the interval lead quickly evaporated on the back of St Helens’ accurate outside shooting, drawing the teams into a 39-39 tie.

Only a late-quarter burst of scoring from Emmanuel Yeboah allowed Worcester to restore a 54-49 cushion.

By midway through the final period successive powerful drives from former Worcester veteran Disraeli Lufadeju reduced the visiting lead back to just 59-58.

But, when faced with similarly aggressive moves from Yeboah and from Fin Rennie, Saints put paid to their chances of another comeback by committing a frustrating raft of technical and unsportsmanlike fouls.

Rennie stole the ball from Lufadeju to set up a crowd-pleasing alley-oop basket for Burgess to establish 76-66 control in the closing minute of the match, just ahead of the title-winning celebrations.

Burgess rounded off his regular-season contributions with a customary double-display of 18 points and a dozen rebounds. Yeboah and Ferreira tabbed 13 points apiece with captain Wilfrid Santhe Antonio notching ten.

“It’s a great feeling to win the league,” beamed Santhe. “All the guys we have here this year, especially the first-year players, have made such a difference.

“I’ve been here five seasons and now want to end my time in Worcester on an even bigger high with the Playoff title.”

Wolves enter the post-season playoffs holding a prime seeding, with their opening match taking place on Saturday 28 March (7.30pm) back at the University of Worcester Arena against either London Stars or Barking Abbey, depending on which of the sides finishes fourth in Pool B of National Basketball League Division One.

“We’ve ended our season unbeaten at the University of Worcester Arena,” added Blake. “Although we now wipe the slate clean to go into the post-season we have the confidence of having made our venue a fortress. The University Arena is our house!”

Tickets go on sale later today (Monday March 9th) once official fixture confirmation comes through from the National Basketball League and can be brought here or from the University of Worcester Arena.