Worcester Wolves 100, Newcastle Eagles 94

Jan 7 2008 The Journal

NEW signing Bryan Defares must have watched his new team-mates smash Scottish Rocks on Friday night in the BBL Trophy and perhaps wondered why the Eagles had needed his signature. After Saturday’s result he probably has a better idea.

The Dutch guard, forced to sit out awaiting his international clearance, looked on as Fabulous Flournoy’s battered, bruised and limited line-up slipped to a shock defeat at strugglers Worcester in the BBL Championship.

Perhaps this was a game too far for an Eagles outfit that has conjured up some impressive wins in recent weeks, despite carrying injuries to key players and being short handed on the roster. Perhaps the emphasis on the game 24 hours prior against Rocks had been too great, Perhaps the Eagles had not prepared well enough for a Wolves side containing some dangerous scoring threats.

Whatever the reason, it was a disappointing performance and result for a side that prides itself on passion, commitment and defensive principles. The evening had started badly with the Eagles arriving late and having precious little warm-up time, and as the game started the bus journey certainly seemed to still be in the players’ legs.

The home side jumped to a 7-0 lead before Olu Babalola put the visitors on the scoreboard. Wolves scored again before Newcastle produced a blistering burst of 21-2 with BBL player of the month Charles Smith, captain Andrew Bridge and Babalola well to the fore to open a 12-point lead at 23-11. A late home run cut the gap to 25-18 after 10 minutes.

Into the second and the Eagles looked set for another away win as they comfortably stretched their advantage to 15 at 45-30. It was then that things began to go wrong. The hard work that had gone in to establishing a lead was undone as the Wolves bit back hard. Thirteen unanswered points capped by an Anthony Paez tip-in on the buzzer sent the teams in to the half-time break with the Eagles only two points up at 45-43.

The third period was close throughout, although the home side just held the upper hand. They sneaked in front as the Eagles failed to stem their flow of points. However, Newcastle were also managing to maintain their scoring until an 8-4 finish from Worcester gave them a 73-70 lead to take in to the final quarter.

It was then that the home side made their run. With the BBL’s top scorer James Life in seemingly unstoppable mode, they opened a six-point gap at 88-82 with less than four minutes to play. The Eagles strived to close the gap but time was against them and Worcester held their nerve to close out the game.

As good as their perimeter defence had been against Rocks, it was not good enough in this game, and that coupled with poor transition defence contributed greatly to their downfall. The silver lining in defeat for Flournoy is that every time his side have lost a game this season they have come back stronger. With a vital league game to come against Leicester on Friday before next Sunday’s BBL Cup final against Milton Keynes Lions, the fans will be hoping that trend continues.

TOP SCORERS

WORCESTER WOLVES: James Life 36, Anthony Paez 23, Chuck Evans 19

NEWCASTLE EAGLES: Charles Smith 27, Andrew Bridge 22, Olu Babalola 17