Worcester Wolves 110-78 Cheshire Phoenix

Worcester Wolves warmed up for next week’s British Basketball League playoffs by blasting past Cheshire Phoenix 110-78 at a jam-packed University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

Wolves moved in front by midway through the first quarter before pressing their foot on the gas to race to an overwhelming 60-39 half-time lead and subsequently ease to victory.

It was a battle of the big men in the early going as seven-footers Dallin Bachynski and CJ Gettys put their game faces on. Gettys leapt highest to grab the opening tip-off and the first score. George Beamon found Bachynski unmarked under the basket to open his account.
Worcester edged 13-11 ahead when Bachynski lost his defender. Both centres threw down dunks and Gettys produced an alley-oop as the initial period ended.

Other players emerged in the second quarter. Scores from Michael Ojo and Robert Gilchrist aided a 30-19 advantage that had Phoenix calling for a time-out.

The interruption did nothing to halt Wolves’ momentum. Ojo floated home a double of three-pointers in under a minute. Gilchrist slotted home a triple as the shot-clock expired and Dominic Ives also connected from afar with his first touch of the ball.

The opening eight points of the second half all belonged to Beamon as he mercilessly brushed aside flailing defenders to push matters to 68-39 and put the match out of sight.

The final stages saw Beamon and Bachynski continue to dominate, allowing Coach Paul James the opportunity to give useful court-time to University students George Emms and Demi Ogunbona.

Bachynski rampaged to a 30 point and 12 rebound performance with Beamon also in the double-double sphere on 24 points and 10 assists. Gilchrist tallied 17 points, closely followed by Ojo with 16.

“That was a really pleasing win,” said James. “We did what we had to do, building momentum for the playoffs with a complete team performance.”

Wolves’ last regular-season outing will be a trip to Glasgow Rocks on Sunday (5pm). Afterwards the playoff first-round matchups will be confirmed, with the winners decided on aggregate score over home and away meetings.

James wants to round out the season in good style, saying: “We’ve finished our home fixtures on the right note and want to finish off in a similar way on Sunday in Glasgow.
“After that we are all looking forward to whoever we face in the playoffs. The players did a great job in entertaining another packed crowd today. We want to do the same again next week.

“The fans give us fantastic support at both ends of the floor – there is no other atmosphere in the league like we’ve built here in Worcester.”

Match report by Colin Taylor
Image Credit Razorlight Imagery