London Lions 62-63 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves continued their unbeaten start to the new BBL season when pulling off a thrilling overtime victory at London Lions on Thursday. Holding a ten-point lead by half-time, it looked as if the Wolves were comfortably on their way to their third win in a row. However, a dearth of second-half scoring left them struggling to stay in the contest. As regulation time wound down, a ball-steal from Kalil Irving allowed his forward partner Stefan Djukic to level the scores and take the evening into an extra five minutes, where Wolves eventually prevailed 63-62.

The first quarter of the game saw the beginnings of a night-long battle between Wolves’ centre Will Creekmore and Lions’ recent high-profile signing, Great Britain International, Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Six points apiece were their contributions to a 20-16 advantage for the Wolves by the end of the period.

Creekmore made a neat fade-away shot off one leg, and moments later sank a three-pointer to help extend the Wolves lead out to its largest of the night at 29-18 by midway through the second period. However Bryan-Amaning responded with a score of his own, blocked a Creekmore attempt and then directed a bullet pass for London’s veteran forward Julius Joseph to lay home.

Wolves’ guard Alex Owumi and his opposite number at the Lions, Rod Brown showed that it was not just amongst the big men where duelling was taking place. A double of baskets from Brown inspired Owumi to target his smaller opponent, backing the ball towards him and sinking scores on three successive occasions, on the way to a 37-27 interval cushion for his side.

Towards the end of the first half, Wolves’ point guard Zaire Taylor had taken a worrying fall to the ground, though he stayed on court. As the third quarter began it appeared that the fall had indeed served to stunt his earlier effectiveness. With little firepower coming from his team-mates, a paltry eight points was all that Worcester could muster over the period, while the Lions tallied fourteen of their own.

A slender 45-41 lead evaporated in the first minute of the last quarter when Bryan-Amaning again denied a Creekmore shot attempt and then went on to float a tidy jump shot over the outstretched arms of his rival. By the time Bryan-Amaning had showcased his all-round versatility with an outside score, London had become the team with their noses in front, with three minutes remaining.

Two points from Joseph was the signal for Wolves’ coach Paul James to call a time-out. With just under a minute to go his team still trailed, now by 51-56. Wolves’ forward Jamal Williams managed to bustle his way to the hoop to score and draw a foul, pulling the scores back to 54-56.

With just 19 seconds remaining the Lions were inbounding from the side-line when Irving intercepted the ball and passed it on to Djukic who made no mistake with the lay-up, topping off what looked an unlikely Wolves’ comeback.

The Worcester momentum carried over into the extra period with a triple from a revitalised Taylor, and a confident spin move from Owumi, quickly taking matters to 61-56. Although the Lions would once more briefly roar, they did not have quite enough to deny their visitors the spoils, 63-62.

Paul James was relieved to take the win, commenting: “We did well in the first half, but Lions did a great job in turning the tables on us in the second half. We weren’t moving the ball well enough or setting screens. At the end of the day though we stayed calm to take the win, showing some toughness that perhaps wasn’t always there last season.”

Talking about the last few seconds of regulation James said: “We were down and knew we needed to foul or go for a steal. We gambled on the steal and it paid off with great work from Kalil and Stefan.”

Creekmore and Owumi led the Wolves scorers with 17 and 15 points respectively. Brown and Bryan-Amaning tabbed 15 and 13 points for London.

Wolves will now return to the University of Worcester Arena, to face Cheshire Phoenix (tip off 7.30pm), this Friday (October 11).