Leicester Riders 74-62 Worcester Wolves

BBL Cup holders the Leicester Riders will progress through to the semi-finals of this year’s competition after consigning Worcester Wolves to only their second defeat of the new season.

Despite strong beginnings to the first and third quarters, and even holding double-digit leads at several points, Wolves were unable to maintain consistency in the face of harrying Leicester defence, leading to the 62-74 loss.

As the game opened, Wolves looked like a team on a mission, rampaging to a 9-0 start. Riders were rattled as the captain of Great Britain’s Olympic side, Andrew Sullivan, twice miss-shuffled his feet to be called for travelling violations and then could only gaze skywards as a wild pass from his team-mate Anthony Rowe flew into the stands. It would be a full four minutes into the contest before Riders would get onto the scoreboard, with a layup from Anthony Downing.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, Wolves’ Daniel Belgrave came off the bench to float home a three-pointer and take his side out to a 14-4 advantage. However, the hosts hauled themselves back into contention by taking the last nine points of the period.

For the remainder of the first half a back-and forth encounter ensued. Wolves’ Jamal Williams hit his second triple of the night and then laid on a neat pass for his forward partner Stefan Djukic to slam home. Reserve point guard Caylin Raftopoulos introduced himself to the court with a long-range score, and Worcester were once more in control at 26-18.

Leicester then took their turn at making a run. Onetime Worcester centre Barry Lamble smiled as he connected on his very first touch of the ball, closing matters back to 34-31 as the teams returned to the locker rooms.

Ex-Rider Zaire Taylor had been held to just two free throws in the first half, but sprang into life after the break. He firstly stole the ball from his former colleagues to set up another Djukic dunk, and then capped a 12-0 Wolves’ burst with a three-pointer.

Once more Riders showed their determination not to let go of one of their trio of trophies from last season by digging deeply. Employing a full-court press and restricting the opportunity for their visitors to run set plays, they reduced the deficit to 50-49, with Sullivan tabbing the closing five points of the third period.

After three minutes of the final quarter the evening stood tied at 57-57, following a score from outside the arc by Riders’ Jorge Calvo. A moment later the Spaniard repeated the feat, and Wolves trailed 57-60. After only one more minute had elapsed, Leicester’s guard combo of Downing and Jay Cousinard also got in on the outside shooting party. Downing scored again to plunge Worcester into a 57-68 hole that they would be unable to climb out of.

There was no easing of Riders’ defensive pressure as the match drew to a close. Hurriedly thrown up shots, and an inability to handle their swarming opponents, meant that Wolves struggled to accumulate just a measly five points in the last six minutes of the night.

Worcester’s assistant coach Alex Radu confirmed that the game was lost in the last quarter, saying: “We played pretty well until the last few minutes. They hit some big threes in the last part of the game and we were unfortunately unable to respond to that.”

Taylor and Djukic led the Wolves scoring, with 13 and 12 points respectively. Downing top-scored for Leicester with 22 points.

There will be no let-up in the quality of the sides that Wolves will face next weekend. There will be a trip to second-placed Sheffield Sharks this Friday, with a long trek up to Glasgow Rocks taking place the following Sunday. The week after that (Friday 15 November) the Wolves will welcome the chance to return to the University of Worcester Arena, when Surrey United will be the visitors.