Friday 10 April 2015 Worcester Wolves 92-80 Glasgow Rocks

Worcester Wolves kept the pot boiling in their quest for their best-ever placing in the British Basketball League by overcoming Glasgow Rocks 92-80 at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

Wolves currently stand third in the table, two points behind their challengers for the runner-up spot, Leicester Riders. Just three games remain in the regular season, on the road at Durham Wildcats and a lip-smacking home-and-away double next week versus Leicester.

Rocks had already beaten Wolves twice up in Scotland earlier this year, but showed no signs of being able to continue the winning run away from their own court. They simply had no answer to a ruthless performance from their hosts. Five Worcester men scored in double figures, led by the guard partnership of Chavis Holmes and Alex Owumi with 22 and 19 points respectively.

At six minutes into the evening the score stood at 12-11. By the last minute of the quarter it had widened to 22-15 after three-pointers from Owumi and from Lithuanian guard Robertas Bitinas.

The second period featured an array of show-time moves as Wolves settled into a groove. A bullet pass from Holmes found Dejan Radojevic totally open for an easy lay-in. Owumi produced a wondrous double spin-around dance to the basket. Bitinas floated home a couple more triples, helping increase the advantage to 47-36 by half-time.

There was more of the same after the interval, with Holmes and Owumi swapping assists and every man in a Worcester vest clamping down at the defensive end. The lead had accelerated to 72-53 by the close of the third period, with no way back for the Rocks.

Former Worcester favourite Tommy Freeman finally notched his first field goal of the match during the final quarter, but that flicker of activity was nothing when judged alongside another sparkling Wolves’ move, a sublime behind-the-back pass from Bitinas to leave Owumi unmarked to connect from distance.

Coach Paul James was pleased with his team’s business-like display, saying: “Defensively we were solid, and offensively we moved the ball very well. It was efficient, it was professional.

“We’ve talked for the last couple of weeks about getting into playoff-mode and we saw that last week when we beat Newcastle, and again tonight in how we dealt with Glasgow.”

Wolves will travel to Leicester on Tuesday, before hosting their rivals next Friday at the University of Worcester Arena. James gave his thoughts on the doubleheader: “We’ll be treating it like a playoff series. The first leg is at their place. We’ve already beaten them there once so if we win again we’ll take the head-to-head. After that we can look towards Friday.

“As well as batting us for second-place, they still have an outside shot at catching Newcastle in top-spot. Next week should see two special games in front of two full houses. We can’t wait.”