Leicester Riders 77-80 Worcester Wolves

Photo credit: Razorlight Imagery

Worcester Wolves rounded out their British Basketball League regular season fixtures in fine style with a thrilling 80-77 success at top-of-the-table Leicester Riders.

Wolves clawed back a 36-47 half-time deficit to lead their hosts 80-74 with 35 seconds remaining, before seeing Riders’ Taylor King float in a three-pointer.

At just two seconds left, King stepped to the free-throw line for three foul shots and a chance to send the contest into overtime. In the face of howls of derision from a large band of travelling supporters, the usually-reliable forward managed to miss all three attempts and therefore fail to prevent only Leicester’s second home defeat of the season.

Coach Paul James was delighted to get back to winning ways after Sheffield Sharks ended his side’s twelve-match unbeaten run on Friday, saying: “It was a really great win for us. We wanted to go into the playoffs with momentum. We were all really disappointed after Friday – there was no better way to put things right than to come to the home of the League Champions and turn them over.”

“We had a difficult first half but turned things round after that by becoming more aggressive on defence, and moving the ball around much better on offense.”

Wolves found themselves sheltering from a hail of three-pointers as the match commenced. Riders’ captain Tyler Bernadini sank a couple, as did Great Britain centre Andy Thomson.

Maurice Walker was brought off the bench for his first action after five matches out with injury and slotted home a useful seven first-quarter points. But three further triples from Leicester’s sharpshooters put them 26-21 ahead entering the second period.

With Wolves still struggling to make their mark, Riders’ lead accelerated into double-digits by half-time.

It was a wholly different story after the break. A mesmerising crossover dribble from Ashton Khan got the ball rolling. Four more points from Khan, and three other Worcester men getting on the scoreboard, led to a pulsating 16-0 start to the second half and the visitors’ first advantage of the afternoon.

In an ebb and flow encounter, Leicester would regain the lead. By midway through the final quarter Wolves again had their noses in front at 68-67. A triple from Alex Navajas at the shot-clock buzzer, and an outrageous basket from Khan as he tumbled backwards, helped push matters out to 75-67, before Leicester’s late revival nearly stole the spoils.

Khan led the scoring with 17 points, closely followed by Trey Zeigler and Navajas with 15 and 14 points respectively. Trevor Setty contributed double-double statistics with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Wolves finish the season with a 20-13 win-loss record and fifth place in the table, setting up a two-legged quarter-final playoff tie against Sheffield Sharks. The first leg will take place in South Yorkshire on Friday, with Sharks coming to the University of Worcester Arena on Sunday (4pm) for the return leg.

Earlier in the year Wolves stumbled to a demoralising 78-96 defeat in the first leg of their BBL Trophy semi-final at Plymouth Raiders, leaving themselves little chance of overturning such a large deficit. James is keen to avoid a similar situation recurring, saying: “Our last experience of a two-leg tie was a bad one. We blew the first game at Plymouth and gave ourselves a mountain to climb at home.

“We’ll learn from that. Today’s game puts us in the right mood for next week. We need to make sure we are still in the tie after next Friday and then we can come back to the support of another hopefully sell-out crowd on Sunday.”

The Worcester Wolves will play the 2nd Leg of the BBL Playoff quarter final at home on Sunday 30th April at 4pm at the University of Worcester Arena. Tickets will be made available here with the game available for free to season ticket holders as part of their season ticket package.