Birmingham Knights 59-100 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves maintained their unbeaten record and still sit proudly at the top of the British Basketball League after easily seeing off the challenge of Birmingham Knights on Sunday. Just as in Friday’s comfortable victory over Manchester Giants, there was another opportunity for Paul James to give a run out to all the members of his squad as his side cruised to the 59-100 win.

There was a blow to Birmingham’s chances before the game began with their free-scoring American guard Brent Benson ruled out of the action. From the tip off it was obvious that his absence was seriously disrupting his side’s structure as they struggled to find the basket and were unable hold back an explosion of Wolves’ scoring.

Nearly four minutes of the afternoon had elapsed before the Knights troubled the scoreboard, a solitary free-throw from forward Emile Hopkins. In the meantime, Worcester had already rattled in ten points.

Another blistering passage of Wolves offence took place over the next the thirty seconds. Firstly Will Creekmore sank a triple, then Zaire Taylor stole the ball at half-court and raced forward for an easy lay-up and lastly as Knights tried to inbound the next possession he cruelly snatched the ball for a further score. The 1-17 scoreline was the signal for James to make early substitutions, bringing in Andreas Schreiber, Kalil Irving and Caylin Raftopoulos in place of starters Taylor, Creekmore and Stefan Djukic.

Knights managed to bring a measure of respectability to their output by the close of the initial quarter, though they still stared skywards at an 11-29 deficit.

By midway through the second period the Wolves’ lead had accelerated to 15-40, and all of their starting five had taken a rest on the bench. Birmingham coach Paul Douglas showed his frustration when disputing referees’ calls, earning himself a technical foul, although some of his fire appeared to transfer to his troops as they battled manfully to hold the deficit down to 24-47 by half-time.

University of Worcester student Calvin Morant-Hudson was allowed to take the point guard reins for the start of the second half and quickly marked his arrival with a confident long-range score. By the end of the third quarter he had tallied three further baskets.

The onslaught on the beleaguered Birmingham defenders continued. Jamal Williams floated home a double of three-pointers and then brought the large band of travelling Wolves supporters to their feet with a mazy dribble and assist for Schreiber to alley-oop through the net.

Entering the final ten minutes of the afternoon, a huge 43-78 lead had already been established, but no mercy was shown to his opponents by Wolves’ star guard Taylor, who swaggered to twelve final quarter points. After a couple of mesmerising spin moves to the basket, he fired a bullet pass for Schreiber to slam home. At 59-98, and with just a handful of seconds remaining in the match, he broke clear of tiring Knights, sprinted to their net    and at the last moment bounced the ball up over the rim, before gleefully jamming the ball down with both hands to bring up a Worcester century.

Paul James was satisfied at seeing his team assert their authority, saying: “Job done. We played tough. It was also a chance for our bench players to get extended court time and they came through. Mission accomplished.”

On a night when all eleven Wolves players got on the score-sheet, it was ex-Plymouth stalwart Schreiber who top-scored with 18 points, followed by Taylor and Williams with 14 and 13 points respectively. In only his second appearance for the Wolves, Schreiber also impressed by pulling down 12 rebounds. Martyn Gayle with 16 points and Emile Hopkins with 10 points were the Knights’ only double-digit scorers.

Wolves’ next outing will undoubtedly be a much harder task as they travel to the BBL’s second-place team, the Newcastle Eagles, this Friday evening. The team will return to the University of Worcester Arena the following Friday (November 1), to face Plymouth Raiders.