Worcester Wolves 65-67 London City Royals

Friday 11 October 2019

Worcester Wolves came within one shot of keeping up their unbeaten start to the season as they agonisingly missed out on upsetting the leaders of their BBL Cup pool London City Royals at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

After dragging back a double-digit fourth quarter deficit, Wolves found themselves with a last-chance possession at just 65-67 in arrears. Unable to spy an open teammate, point guard Maarten Bouwknecht was forced to attempt a three-point winner.

When Bouwknecht’s shot bounced up off the rim of the basket Jordan Williams rose highest from a melee of players but was unsuccessful with a put-back try.

The result drops Worcester to a 3-1 win-loss record, just behind London’s 4-0 tally at the top of the BBL Cup South group.

Royals’ dangerous import Matt Scott grabbed his side’s opening five points, setting out his stall for an eventual game-high 27 points.

Hometown star Kofi Josephs signalled his return from injury with a triple to tie matters at 15-15 with three minutes left in the first period.

Julius Van Sauers notched a score and then dropped to the floor to wrestle the ball away from his opponent and set up a go-ahead success for Josephs at 25-24 as the second quarter began.

But this would be the last time that Wolves would lead the contest. A double of layups from former Worcester forward Orlan Jackman aided a 37-31 half-time London advantage.

An offensively-tepid sequence of play from the host’s saw Royals extend their control to 60-46 entering the final nine minutes of play.

However, the previously-scoreless Raheem May-Thompson was on target from outside the arc to spark a comeback. By the time May-Thompson had completed an eleven-point outburst Wolves had slashed London’s lead to just 65-63 with two minutes remaining.

Disregarding a barrage of jeers from raucous home supporters, one-time Worcester guard Elvisi Dusha drove to the hoop to cushion Royals’ advantage ahead of the exciting end to the evening.

Josephs totalled 20 points with only May-Thompson also puncturing double-figure scoring for Wolves.

Coach Matt Newby confirmed the reasons for the defeat, saying: “We gave ourselves a lot of chances to score but just didn’t finish off the chances. I thought we did alright here and there but we needed to be much more consistent.”

Next weekend sees Wolves in home and away action against Plymouth Raiders. On Friday 18 October (7.30pm) Raiders come up the M5 to the University of Worcester Arena, with Wolves making the reverse trip on Sunday 20 October (3pm).

“A double of games against Plymouth will be a challenge,” added Newby. “We will obviously take a good look at what has taken place today and look at what we have to improve.”

Tickets for our next home game on Friday 18th October against Plymouth Raiders as part of our double header weekend are on sale now, online via the link below and at the University Of Worcester Arena.

https://bit.ly/2oBk81H