London Lions 94-76 Worcester Wolves

Friday 23 November 2012

It was a tale of two halves for Worcester Wolves on Friday evening as they surrendered a double-digit interval lead before eventually losing 94-76 at London Lions.

The game opened in stunning fashion for the Wolves as their opponents had no answer to an explosion of scoring from centre Arturas Masiulis. Masiulis won the opening tip-off and straightaway floated home a rare three-point basket. His fellow Lithuanian Arnas Kazlauskas was next on the scoresheet before Masiulis added to his tally. When Wolves’ point guard Alex Owumi connected from distance the visitors already held a 4-10 lead within the first couple of minutes.

The Lions were then held scoreless for the next four minutes of the game, during which time the Wolves piled up another eleven points of their own. A dunk from Masiulis gave him the last of his 13 first quarter points, before he was given well-earned rest on the bench with the Wolves ahead at 8-25 seven minutes into the evening. A double of scores from young English forward Kalil Irving finalised a commanding 14-33 advantage for his team.

Seven unanswered points from the Lions led Worcester coach Paul James to call an early second period timeout. Consecutive triples from Kazlauskas and Owumi once more established control at 21-39 with seven minutes remaining. London were held at bay for the rest of the half as the teams went to the locker rooms at 33-46.

The third quarter began with an outside score from Kazlauskas, before the Lions bagged the next six points to leave the scores at 39-49. It was from here that the Wolves’ composure began to crumble as an Owumi turnover was quickly followed by a technical foul called on Kazlauskas. Lions’ centre Adrien Sturt converted both of the resultant free throws and then saw five quick points from his team mate, point guard Orlan Jackman, reduce the margin to 46-49.

Worcester eventually got their side of the scoreboard ticking again at nearly midway through the period with a triple from Owumi. When Kazlauskas did the same a moment later it looked as if the ship had been steadied. However, a further burst of action from Jackman as he accumulated eleven points in the period, once more closed the gap to within three points at 60-63.

As the last period began Masiulis finally nailed his first score from the field since the opening quarter. Jackman and his backcourt partner Tayo Ogedengbe then both sank shots to pull the Lions to within a point, prompting a Wolves timeout. When the action resumed Ogedengbe was once more on target to give London their first advantage of the night, at 66-65 with seven minutes to play.

The Lions tallied eight points without reply in the space of the next minute to suddenly assume control at 74-65. Worcester quickly hit back with baskets from Owumi and Kazlauskas to close to 74-73 with four minutes left in the contest. Unfortunately for the Wolves this was to be as close as they would come to their hosts as the Lions gradually edged away. Lions’ coach Vince Macauley took a timeout at three minutes to go and his charges ahead at 78-74. A succession of wayward shot attempts and turnovers meant that a pair of free throws from Owumi would be the only further addition to the Wolves score. In the meantime London continued to steadily build their advantage leading up to the eventual 94-76 outcome.

Owumi top-scored for the Wolves with 25 points, followed by Masiulis and Kazlauskas, with 18 and 17 points respectively. Jackman led the way for the Lions with 22 points.

Wolves will complete their double-header weekend when hosting the Sheffield Sharks at the University of Worcester this Saturday (tip off 7pm).