Worcester Wolves 77-72 Newcastle Eagles

Friday 31 January 2020

Worcester Wolves carried over the momentum from last Sunday’s capture of the BBL Cup when overcoming Newcastle Eagles after an absorbing encounter at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday.

In a match with multiple lead-changes Wolves edged 62-60 ahead entering the final quarter and hung on for a 77-72 success that positions them next to Eagles in third-place in the Championship table with an identical 5-3 win-loss record.

“I think there was an emotional and physical hangover from Sunday,” admitted Worcester coach Matt Newby. “But the players have been really diligent in how they prepared after a very demanding game last weekend. At the end of the day we got the win against a high-calibre Newcastle team.”

The back-and-forth nature of the contest was set early with Wolves guard Mark Hughes tiptoeing through traffic for a 2-2 tie and sinking a pull-up jumper to level at 4-4.

Although the hosts pulled 13-6 clear after four minutes had elapsed Eagles quickly bit back with eight unanswered points to nudge in front.

Kofi Josephs found Amir Williams for an alley-oop slam as the second quarter began, restoring parity at 19-19. Jordan Williams produced a strong drive to give his side the edge.

A double of three-pointers from Josephs further excited a large home crowd before Newcastle took their turn in the box-seat with a 44-39 half-time advantage.

Cortez Edwards eagerly rebounded his own miss to close the visitors’ lead to just 54-53 and Amir Williams thrust past fellow big man CJ Gettys to move Wolves ahead.

More exchanges of scores followed in the final quarter but intense defence forced a Newcastle shot-clock violation and pushed their shots off-target.

Jordan Williams revelled in barrelling Gettys to the floor for a 74-70 cushion with a couple of minutes to go and earning the seven-footer a referee’s warning for flopping.

Another Joseph’s basket widened the lead sufficiently to close out the win.

Jordan Williams led the statistics with 18 points and 11 rebounds, with his namesake Amir also posting a 14 points and 11 boards double-double.

Edwards and Josephs tallied 14 points apiece, with Hughes notching 13.

Wolves will be on the road for their next fixture, on Friday 7 February (7.30) at Sheffield Sharks, before returning to the University of Worcester Arena the following Friday for a Valentine’s Day date with Plymouth Raiders.

“Sheffield will not be easy,” warned Newby. “They’ve been a bit up and down with their results but they’re well-disciplined with an excellent half-court system.

“For me, I can see next week being one of our toughest games of the year.”