Worcester Wolves 103-84 Surrey Scorchers

Worcester Wolves have secured a hat-trick of wins for the first time this season after defeating Surrey Scorchers 103-84 on Friday.

A large University of Worcester Arena crowd was on hand to welcome Wolves back to the city after their impressive double of wins on the road last weekend at title-challenging Newcastle Eagles and London Lions.

Worcester’s fine form carried on in this match as they steadily built a 50-38 half-time lead and stepped on the gas after the break to deny Surrey any chance of a reply.

Wolves’ surging confidence was on display from the outset. Danny Huffor bulleted an across-the-court pass to a wide-open Jermel Kennedy for an early dunk. Maurice Walker rejected a Surrey attack at one end before striding up court to overpower defenders at the other end, aiding a 22-15 first-quarter advantage.

Ashton Khan joined the fray with several of his trademark slashes to the hoop while captain Marek Klassen enthusiastically distributed the ball amongst the team, allowing five players to reach near double-figure outputs before half-time.

Kennedy surprised Scorchers’ Will Neighbour by swiping the ball out of his hands as the second half began. A double of Huffor steals injected further doubt into the visitors’ ability to stay in the game.

Successive Surrey timeouts did little to slow down Wolves’ attacks. Walker and Kennedy rose high for dunks and shots rained in from the outside. Given no space to breath, Scorchers were harassed into a 24-second shot clock violation.

A pinpoint three-pointer from Huffor added to a an already-decisive 81-57 lead as the final quarter began. Alex Navajas notched his first points of the evening to bring up the century for his side, the third match in a row that Worcester have hit a ton of points.

Huffor led the scoring with 27 points, as well as nabbing six steals. Kennedy and Klassen tallied 24 and 17 points respectively while Walker weighed in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Coach Paul James summed up his team’s turnaround in fortunes, saying: “Everything is clicking for us now. We’re standing up defensively and then pushing the ball quickly up court for easy scores. Hard work at one end produces opportunities at the other.”

Wolves travel to Sheffield Sharks next Friday before meeting Scorchers again on Sunday 5 February, in Surrey, for the right to progress to the BBL Trophy semi-finals.

“We don’t intend to let up on the pressure,” added James.

“We’re now getting towards where we want to be with the talent we have on this team. We’re getting it right on defence and our offense is flowing from that. We’re sharing the load amongst all our players and everyone is benefitting.”

For enquiries, please contact: worcesterwolves@worc.ac.uk