Sunday 14 February 2016 Worcester Wolves 88-94 Newcastle Eagles

Worcester Wolves were unable to succeed in their quest to regain the BBL Trophy they won in 2014, after dropping to a second-leg semi-final defeat against Newcastle Eagles on Sunday.

Already trailing by seven points from the first-leg that took place in the North East last week, the latest 88-94 setback meant losing out on aggregate by 154-167.

A few weeks ago Wolves stunned the Eagles by calling a halt to their highly-impressive 28-match unbeaten run. On that occasion Worcester’s big men Pavol Losonsky and Perris Blackwell pummeled their way to more than half of the team’s scoring; this time both players were held back from significantly affecting the outcome.

It was Ben Eaves who top-scored for Wolves with 15 points, followed closely by Jay Couisnard and Orlan Jackman with 14 points apiece. Newcastle were able to produce scorers from all positions, with point guard Rahmon Fletcher and centre Andy Thomson leading the way with 25 and 24 points respectively.

Wolves fell behind early, saw the deficit climb to a peak of 50-72 in the third quarter, before achieving respectability, but no reward, by the final buzzer.

Newcastle’s evergreen veteran Charles Smith belied his years by being the quickest man out of the blocks as the game began. As well as jumping highest to win the opening tip-off, he had already accumulated seven points after just four minutes had elapsed.

Losonsky settled into a steady pattern of play to rattle home five baskets, but limited contribution from elsewhere resulted in an 18-28 disadvantage by the first quarter’s end.

By half-time, despite increasing their offensive production, a repeated inability by their defence to subdue Eagles’ long-shooting accuracy saw Wolves still trailing at 47-57.

Newcastle’s eight pre-interval three-pointers had already grown to double-figures when Wolves’ coach Paul James was forced to call for a timeout a couple of minutes after the break.

Welcome bursts of energy from reserve forwards Ben Eaves and Disraeli Lufadeju dragged matters back to 65-74 as the third quarter’s end drew near, but Fletcher left all defenders frozen when zipping through in reply.

At the beginning of the last period those same defenders were pleased to prevent Fletcher from succeeding with the same play, but were then left dismayed when Smith scooped up the rebound and slotted home another triple.

A late loosening of the shackles allowed a flurry of Worcester scoring, but by now the outcome had already been settled.

James gave his thoughts on what had taken place, saying: “It’s very disappointing that we’re now out of the competition and it’s particularly disappointing to see the way that we went out – there was a lack of urgency, we didn’t play like we really wanted the win.

“We struggled with our perimeter shooting and made it too easy for Newcastle to succeed with theirs.

“We didn’t play to our strengths. They did a really good job in keeping our big guys quiet. They obviously did their homework on us.”

Wolves now face their third game in five days with a trip to London Lions on Tuesday. After that they will return to the University of Worcester Arena next Friday, 19 February, to host Manchester Giants, before taking an extended break from action all the way through to mid-March, when they will meet Newcastle once more.

“London will be another tough match. We need to get back on the winning trail,” added James.