Worcester Wolves 93-91 Leicester Riders

Friday night saw Worcester Wolves record one of their most notable results since three seasons ago when they lifted the British Basketball League Play-Off title.

Top-of-the-table Leicester Riders came to the University of Worcester Arena boasting an outstanding 16-match unbeaten run, including a 91-58 thumping of Plymouth in last week’s BBL Trophy Final.

Since the turn of the year, Wolves have taken off on their own thrust of form, dropping only a couple of league matches in their surge up to fifth place in the standings, setting up a mouth-watering encounter with their Midlands rivals.

Despite building several double-digit leads, Wolves were unable to shake off their visitors. In the last minute Leicester finally edged 87-86 ahead. But Worcester’s strength of character was on display as they punched straight back to secure a pulsating 93-91 victory.

Coach Paul James beamed as he paid tribute to his team, saying: “What a fantastic game of basketball. We got in front, but always knew Leicester would come back at us.

“We believe in ourselves, everyone now has each other’s backs. Because of that we were able to hit big shots at the end, hold our nerve defensively and close out a brilliant win.”

Wolves defied a potentially disastrous start to proceedings. Just three minutes into a tightly-refereed contest, big man in the middle Maurice Walker had already picked up two fouls. When he was then adjudged to have pushed into a defender for his third infraction, coach James was forced to re-jig his line-up.

As Leicester eagerly took up space close to the basket, opportunities opened on the outside. Trevor Setty slotted home a double of three-pointers, while Danny Huffor rat-a-tatted in three long-range successes, aiding a blistering 25-17 first quarter.

Recent signing Trey Zeigler came to the fore in the second period, dancing to ten quick points and a 49-45 interval lead.

The lead was stretched after the break when Huffor snatched the ball away from Riders’ guard Connor Washington and raced down court for a slam dunk. A follow-up Huffor triple saw the Worcester forward break into a high-stepping celebration of Wolves’ 62-50 advantage.
The lead stood at 70-61 entering the final quarter. With seven minutes to go there was still an 80-70 cushion. But Leicester demonstrated their offensive capabilities.

A double of turnovers put matters at 80-74. Two more careless possessions were seized upon to set up consecutive three-pointers for Great Britain forward Andy Thomson and suddenly it was all-square at 80-80 with five minutes remaining.

A near-capacity crowd leapt to their feet when the recently-reintroduced Walker barrelled to the basket to overturn an 86-87 deficit in the last minute of the contest.

Moments later the intensity was ramped up even higher when a surrounded Walker kicked the ball out to an open Jermel Kennedy who smoothly sank his shot. Marek Klassen kept his cool from the free-throw line to close out the 93-91 thriller.

Klassen ran to high-five supporters as a last desperate Leicester attempt missed the target. The Worcester captain described his excitement:

“This was a huge result for us. I’m so pleased for the players, we prepared really hard for this – it was such a great team effort.

“I’m also really happy for all the fans. They were awesome. When Leicester’s last shot went up off the rim and we got the rebound the place exploded. I just ran into the crowd. I’m so excited to be here with fans who have such pride in their team.”

In another night of balanced scoring, it was Huffor who led the way with 24 points. Zeigler hit 15 points, closely followed by Kennedy on 14. Setty and Klassen tallied 12 and 11 points respectively.

Wolves travel to Cheshire Phoenix this Sunday (tip off 5.30), before returning to the University of Worcester Arena next Friday to face another title-challenger in Newcastle Eagles.

While recognising that Cheshire will be his side’s first concern, James was keen to set the scene Newcastle’s visit, saying: “Cheshire are our only thought right now. But after that we are back here to host Newcastle.

“The support today was incredible. It was our biggest and noisiest crowd of the season and I hope everyone comes back for more of the same next week. We’re developing a siege mentality here and making this place a fortress.”

Klassen concurred that Sunday is the only game that matters at the moment, adding: “We’re expecting another battle. Tonight has been fabulous but it won’t count if we don’t back things up in Cheshire.

“It’s coming up to playoff time. Every game is going to be physical, every game is going to require us to come out with a championship mentality.”