The Worcester Wolves ended their BBL Trophy campaign for another season with a 75-82 victory over the Guildford Heat.
Both teams looking for momentum boost
The Worcester Wolves ended their BBL Trophy campaign for another season with a 75-82 victory over the Guildford Heat at the Surrey Sports Park.
Despite the fact that neither side could progress to the latter stages of the competition, both teams were desperate for the victory to provide some momentum for the remainder of the season and it was the visitors who opened up the game the stronger of the two sides thanks to an impressive 13-0 run midway through the first quarter to take the score out to 7-18.
Both sides traded baskets for the remainder of the period leaving the Heat trailing by 10 points at 12-22 at the end of the stanza.
However the second quarter saw the home side begin to find their stride and a 12-2 burst closed the deficit to just two points at 26-28 before a Julius Joseph three-pointer eventually gave them the lead at 32-30.
The home side continued to stretch their lead for the remainder of the quarter and enjoyed a further 11-2 tear to take the score out to 43-34 with 2:46 left in the half. The Wolves tried desperately to close the gap before the half-time break and managed to reduce the deficit to seven points at 47-40 as both sides headed into the locker rooms at the half.
In the second half, the visitors once again started brightly as an 11-0 start to the third quarter saw them retake the lead at 47-51.
Both sides joustled for position as the teams traded baskets for the majority of the period and a Mike Martin basket gave the Heat a slender one-point lead at 60-59 with 43 seconds left in the period, but this was the last time that the home side would lead in the contest as the Wolves bagged the final four points of the quarter to head into the final stanza leading 60-63.
In the final quarter both sides continued to trade baskets with the visitors keeping their noses just in front despite the best efforts of Martin and Martelle McLemore for the Heat as they tried valiantly to overhaul the Wolves' lead.
A basket from Heat's Martin got the home side to within two points at 72-74 with 3:33 left on the clock, but the Wolves ended any real hope of a fightback as they bagged the next six points of the game through Tommy Freeman (2), Arnas Kazlauskas (2) and Sherrad Prezzie-Blue (2) to take the score out to 72-80 and the visitors secured the victory from the foul-line.
Martin led the scoring for the Heat with 22 points personal, while Freeman was the main man for the Wolves in the victory as he bagged 22 points for the Wolves.
At the end of the contest, former Heat Head Coach, and current Worcester Head Coach, Paul James commented, "We came here with a game plan and how we wanted to play our own style of basketball on the road which was all about executing and being consistent. We did that tonight."
