Sunday 08 February 2015 Cheshire Phoenix 89-75 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves lost out on Sunday to one of their rivals in the race for the British Basketball League, suffering a 75-89 defeat at Cheshire Phoenix. While Wolves stay in second place in the table below Newcastle Eagles, by virtue of having played more games than any other contender, Leicester Riders and Cheshire are now snapping at their heels.

The match remained poised until a disastrous barren spell for the visitors bridging the third and fourth quarters. A triple from Jamal Williams edged Wolves 56-55 ahead at five minutes to go in the third period, but it would be a further nine minutes before another Wolves’ score from the field, by which time Cheshire had strolled into the distance, delighting a packed Northgate Arena.

Worcester sank to defeat at the same venue in December, leading their coach Paul James to acknowledge the dominance of the opposition, saying: “Every season you can come up against a team that seems to have your number. Today we again struggled to cope with Cheshire’s speed, size and athleticism. We were doing alright for a while, but then had a long spell where nothing went our way and where Chester capitalised.”

The lead see-sawed throughout the first half. Captain Alex Owumi and Paul Guede both connected with a double of three-pointers in the opening quarter, but Phoenix playmaker Dustin Salisbery was able to do likewise. Another basket for Owumi moved Wolves 24-23 in front as the second period began. A couple of minutes later he was on the spot to swat away a Cheshire shot attempt and set up a three-point success for reserve guard Caylin Raftopoulos.

Raftopoulos floated home a further triple to maximise his side’s advantage at 37-31, four minutes before the half-time break. Robert Thurman was forced to the bench on three fouls, leaving fellow big man Dejan Radojevic the task of battling Cheshire’s  7 foot 8 inch giant Paul Sturgess.

With Thurman back on court after the interval, taking turns with Owumi to move the away side of the scoreboard, it looked as if the evening’s victors would continue undetermined. However, after a long succession of Wolves’ shots went awry it became too late to retrieve matters.

Three Phoenix players stacked up substantial point’s totals. Demond Watt hit 25 points, with Salisbery and Taylor King totaling 23 and 22 points respectively.  For Wolves, Thurman and Jamal Williams tallied 14 points apiece.

Worcester will be in road action again next Sunday, at Durham Wildcats.