Worcester Wolves 97-84 Cheshire

Saturday 10 November 2012

Worcester Wolves consolidated their hold on fourth place in the British Basketball League after a thrilling 97-84 victory over Cheshire at the University of Worcester on Saturday.

Unlike the sides’ last meeting a month ago when the Wolves romped to a 39-point win, this was a far tighter contest which was in the balance until a 14-5 run in the last four minutes of the game decided matters. It was 19-year-old English forward Kalil Irving who came to the fore in the last quarter of play when tallying ten of his game-high 22 points.

In a scrappy opening to the evening neither side was able to establish clear superiority. Stan Ocitti began the scoring with a triple and proceeded to bag all of his team’s initial seven points. Irving chipped in with a handy six points, including a couple of rebounds and tip-ins of missed shots from Ocitti and from point guard Alex Owumi, helping the Wolves to a 20-14 first quarter advantage.

A dunk from Irving extended the Worcester lead but consecutive scores from distance and one close to the basket from Cheshire player-coach Chez Marks brought the teams level at 22-22. At midway through the second period Wolves’ Lithuanian big man Arturas Masiulis opened his scoring account with a dunk to leave the score at 29-29.

The remainder of the first half was notable for the large number of turnovers and missed lay-ups from both sides. With 19 seconds to go the match was still tied at 42-42 until Marks sank two free-throws awarded following a foul by Wolves forward Carlos Fernandez. A moment later Fernandez again erred by throwing a wayward pass that was intercepted and converted into another three points by Marks. An exuberant Marks then jumped into the large throng of travelling Cheshire supporters to celebrate his team’s 42-47 interval lead.

However, the visitors’ excitement was quickly tempered by seeing the Wolves take the second half’s first five points to once more level the scores. Again the contest swung one way and the other, with neither team able to land a decisive blow. With a couple of minutes left in the third quarter an Owumi triple took matters to 63-59, but an instant triple back from Marks straightaway re-closed the gap. A long-range basket from Cheshire’s veteran forward Shawn Myers as the quarter expired took the score to 67-66.

Six points from Masiulis to begin the final period threatened to put daylight between the sides but he then picked up two quick fouls to end his time on court. Consecutive three-pointers from Owumi had Worcester ahead at 79-72 with seven minutes remaining, but Cheshire once more roared back following scores from Marks and his back-court partner Gabe Haskins.

With just under four minutes left in the contest the Wolves led by a solitary point at 83-82, but it was from there that Irving began a stunning passage of play that blew the game wide open. Firstly he caught a full-court assist from Owumi and produced a windmill dunk. A few seconds later he converted a seemingly-impossible reverse lay-up. Another basket soon followed, before he produced the move of the night when rising high up in the air above a trio of Cheshire defenders to emphatically slam home the ball. Eight points in barely a minute of action had accelerated the hosts’ advantage to 91-82 and finally provided a victor.

Wolves coach Paul James was relieved to take the win, commenting: “We made the game tough for ourselves. We had opportunities to break the game open but didn’t take them. Turnovers are killing us right now and it’s something that we are going to have to work hard to eradicate.”

However, James was much more enthusiastic when talking about the performance of Irving, saying: “The energy of Kalil shone through tonight. He had a fantastic performance and gave us a little something of what we have been missing of late.”

When asked about his explosion of scoring in the last quarter, Irving was succinct in his reply: “I just woke up. I love playing this game and know that I need to work hard to earn any respect that I get.”

Irving and Masiulis were joint-top scorers for Worcester with 22 points, followed by Ocitti and Owumi with 17 and 16 points respectively. Marks and Haskins led the Cheshire scorers, tallying 22 points apiece.

Wolves now have nearly a fortnight’s break from action before travelling to London Lions on Friday 23 November and facing the Sheffield Sharks the next day, at the University of Worcester.