WORCESTER Wolves head coach Paul James has challenged his side to complete the regular British Basketball League season in style and give the Wolfpack something to celebrate ahead of the play-offs.
After the high of the 97-79 success at Sheffield Sharks on Friday, Wolves came out on the wrong end of a scrappy encounter at Bristol Flyers 24 hours later.
Wolves stood back and watched their hosts build a huge 19-point first-quarter lead before battling hard to overhaul the deficit and set up a comeback victory. However, late lapses allowed Bristol to snatch a slender 80-78 success.
Robert Gilchrist made his first appearance after his Australian adventures at the Commonwealth Games to sink a turnaround jumper but this would be just a small dent in Bristol’s commanding 29-14 lead in the opening quarter.
Worcester found their feet in the next period, limiting Bristol to a single field goal in the first four minutes, before Dallin Bachynski blocked an attack to set up a Trayvon Palmer three-point play and George Beamon danced to repeated scores.
Wolves’ rotations were disrupted as half-time approached when Michael Ojo was called for his third foul and further muddied matters by attracting a technical foul when disputing the referee’s decision.
Flyers’ advantage had been hauled back to 45-42 as the second half began, with the pendulum swinging firmly in Wolves’ favour. Beamon continued his forays to the hoop and Bachynski now patrolled the space close to both baskets, pushing their side 65-60 in front entering the final quarter.
A Palmer triple had a large band of travelling supporters celebrating a 75-67 lead with five minutes to go, before Flyers revived. Bachynski left the court on his fifth foul, shots went astray and Bristol had swept 79-75 ahead by the final minute.
Beamon dominated the statistics with 32 points and 10 rebounds while Bachynski fought to a 19 point and 12 rebound return. Palmer with 13 points was Wolves’ only other significant scorer.
Coach James said: “We’ll review the tape of the match and get ready for the final weekend. We want to finish things off in the right way and then prepare for the playoffs to give our fans something to celebrate.
“We dug a hole early on, fought back well to get ahead, but lapses of concentration at the end cost us a win.”
Wolves welcome the Cheshire Phoenix to the University of Worcester Arena on Friday (tip off 7.30pm) before closing the regular season with a trip to Glasgow Rocks on Sunday.
