Manchester Giants 86–97 Worcester Wolves

Worcester Wolves notched their second win in this season’s British Basketball League after a confident 97-86 success at Manchester Giants on Sunday.

Wolves nudged ahead of their hosts towards the close of the first quarter, built a double-digit lead by half-time and surged away after the break.

Giants forward David Kadiri grabbed eight points as his side led 14-10 in the early going. Wolves’ George Beamon drew gasps from the crowd with a shake-and-bake dribble that caused his mesmerised defender to drop to the floor, before kicking the ball out for the returning Elvisi Dusha to sink a three-pointer.

Another clever Beamon assist, this time to Alex Navajas, and a couple of points of his own put Wolves 23-16 to the good going into the second period.

The all-action Beamon supplied a trio of gifts for Dallin Bachynski to convert before Dusha joined him in the assists tally. Dusha drew opponents towards him but passed out to an open Dominic Ives who coolly accepted the present.

A 46-35 interval advantage was more than doubled over the next three minutes. Triples from Brandon Parrish and Navajas sat either side of an impressive coast-to-coast basket from Trayvon Palmer.

Entering the final quarter already comfortably ahead 71-52, Worcester’s control continued with sturdy defence and metronomic scoring for Bachynski on the inside accompanied by numerous dashes to the hoop from Ashton Khan.

Coach Paul James expressed his pleasure at the victory, saying: “This was a must-win game for us. We did a good job of controlling the tempo, playing with discipline on both offense and defence.”

Bachynski totalled a season-high 22 points, as well as grabbing 13 rebounds, leaving James to praise his seven-foot centre’s performance, saying: “That was great from Dallin. There’s not too many bigs in this league with his size and strength so it was great that he made it count today. He can do that every game.”

Palmer and Beamon logged 18 and 16 points respectively, followed by Khan with 14.

Wolves are on the road again next Sunday, 26 November, at Surrey Scorchers. “Surrey will be tough, but we’ve had a confidence-booster today and need to carry this form over to next weekend,” added James.

Match report by Colin Taylor
Image credit Razorlight Imagery