By Ryan Gillham
Wolves closed the gap at the top of the BBL table after a comfortable win against bottom side Durham Wildcats on Friday night.
Worcester came out of the game victorious after winning by 20 points as the game ended 70-90 to the visitors.
The game was a tough loss to the Wildcats and Head Coach Dave Elderkin thought his team could have performed better.
“Our big players simply did not perform,” he said.”In the BBL you have to perform at the highest standard to even have a chance of claiming a victory and when your big players don’t perform in the BBL, it’s going to cost you games.”
It was always going to be a tough game for the Wildcats facing second place Worcester Wolves but Mario Flaherty believes all games are equally as tough.
He said: “Every game the team are always positive and looking for the win whether you are playing Mersey Tigers or the Worcester Wolves.
“After some tough results in previous games, it was a positive response from the team but a few cheap calls from the refs and myself being on the bench due to foul trouble made it really tough for us and for that I feel I have let the team down and the fans down but we are now looking towards Sunday’s game and hoping for a win.”
The first quarter saw both sides trading baskets with the Wildcats taking the lead but Tommy Freeman of the Worcester Wolves really caused the Durham defence problems. Although the Wildcats started off brightly the Wolves went on a run which proved difficult for the Wildcats to stop as the first quarter came to an end with the Wolves leading the way 14-24.
The second quarter was to be dominated by the Wildcats as they brought the game back within one point of the Wolves. Some big shots from downtown by brothers Paul and Mark Elderkin helped the Wildcats take the lead but that was short lived after an unsportsmanlike foul was given against Liam O’Mahoney which gave the Wolves two shots from the free throw line and possession of the ball. The Wolves took advantage of the situation and brought the second quarter to an end 39-40 in the their favour.
The third saw the tables being turned in Worcester Wolves favour as Tommy Freeman started to punish them from behind the arc and stretched their lead to a 16 point gap 51-67 with the Wolves playing extremely well at both ends of the court.
In the fourth quarter, it was to start out how the third finished as Worcester extended their lead and made it an 18 point ball game. Durham showed that they weren’t down and out just yet displaying a valiant effort with Mario hitting an And1 to bring the game back to within 10 points but once again that effort was to be cancelled out by the Wolves as they went on another run closing the game out and winning comfortably, 70-90.
The defeat see’s the Wildcats still at the bottom of the table in their debut season in the BBL but Worcester Wolves have extended their run and put pressure on Newcastle Eagles at the top as they lie in second place
The half-time entertainment was performed by local dance school KDANZ putting on a fantastic show for the fans. KDANZ use all different types of dance from breaking dancing to cheerleading. Anyone interested in joining KDANZ contact Kay on 07900365892.
