Plymouth Raiders 87-93 Worcester Wolves

A short-handed Worcester Wolves handed out six of the best to the Plymouth Raiders on Sunday as they coolly administered a 93-87 beating to their opponents.

With Maurice Walker and Andrew Bachman still not fully fit, Wolves’ injury woes were increased when Ashton Khan was also ruled out of the trip to Devon with a sore ankle, leaving coach Paul James with just six players suited up.

Nevertheless, there was little disruption to the ruthless efficiency Worcester are now demonstrating as they rolled to their eleventh win in a row to move up to fourth place in the British Basketball League.

“I’m running out of words to describe just how well we are performing,” confessed James. “Yes, we don’t want to have any players missing, but there is such an unbelievable spirit at the club right now that I have no doubt that other players will step right up.”

Wolves led after every quarter in Plymouth and survived being pegged back to just 74-72 with seven minutes remaining, before once more establishing their control of the proceedings.

“Even when Raiders came back at us in the last quarter I still never felt we would lose,” added James. “We were solid defensively, had multiple weapons offensively and were always capable of making runs when we needed to.”

There was a nip-and-tuck opening to the match. Jermel Kennedy showcased the skills that won him March’s BBL Player-of-the-Month award by sinking a three-pointer and then earning two points and a bonus foul shot after a confident slash to the basket.

Six first-quarter points for Plymouth’s captain Daryl Corletto kept his side in contention, trailing 23-29. By midway through the second period it was all-square at 34-34 after Wolves were held scoreless for nearly four minutes.

But Worcester were soon back to their free-scoring best as they outscored their hosts to end the first half 51-42 ahead.

Marek Klassen floated home a triple and Trevor Setty swatted away a Raiders’ effort as the second half commenced. Trey Zeigler took the last half-dozen of Wolves’ third period points as they widened their lead to 71-61.

Once Plymouth had dared to get within a couple of points of their visitors, Setty was on hand to slap them back down with a quickfire double of three-pointers. When Zeigler then drove powerfully to the hoop for a contemptuous slam the victory was definitively sealed.

Setty top-scored against one of his former clubs with 23 points. Zeigler tallied 18 points, closely followed by Danny Huffor on 17. Klassen and Kennedy notched 14 and 12 points respectively, with Alex Navajas rounding out Worcester’s super-six performers with nine points.

“We have an array of weapons right now,” enthused James. “Any player can step up on any night. I think today was a touch more special for Trevor coming back to Plymouth. I’d say he was fired up, but he’s always fired up – he’s been our energy guy all year, at both ends of the court.”

Wolves return to the University of Worcester this Friday (7.30pm) to greet sixth-placed London Lions, featuring a trio of ex-Wolves in Alex Owumi, Zaire Taylor and Kai Williams.

“We’ve had big crowds at our last few games. I’m sure there’ll be another good turnout on Good Friday,” added James. “It’ll be exciting to see a few old faces, but this is more about who is representing the City of Worcester so well right now.”

Photo credit: Razorlight Imagery