WORCESTER Wolves will look to build on a sizzling start to the British Basketball League campaign when they face two games in 24 hours this weekend.
Matt Newby’s men started the BBL campaign in style with a 93-75 over the Surrey Scorchers at the University of Worcester Arena on Saturday.
Wolves now welcome Leicester Riders to the University of Worcester Arena on Friday (tip off 7.30pm) for the first leg of their BBL Cup semi-final tie before a trip down the M5 24 hours later to face the Bristol Flyers in league action.
A devastating first quarter where they restricted opponents Surrey to just single-digit scoring set Wolves on the path to victory last weekend.
By half-time the hosts had accumulated nearly double their visitors’ points total for an overpowering 47-24 lead.
Cortez Edwards was in the thick of the early action. After his miss was thrown back through the net by Jordan Williams he supplied a deft assist for Mark Hughes to dunk home.
Four minutes into the match Edwards floated in a three-pointer for an 11-3 advantage, precipitating a hurried Scorchers time-out.
Already 19-9 in front entering the second quarter, Worcester increased the punishment on the back of dynamic inside play from recent big man signing Amir Williams.
Time and again he brushed aside flailing defenders to sink his shots or stood tall to reject Surrey attacks, amassing an intimidating 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in his first-half stats.
Wolves’ dominance continued into the second half. Hughes produced another dunk after a long-range assist from Marten Bouwknecht and Julius Van Sauers got in on the slam-action after stealing the ball at half court.
A couple of minutes into the last quarter Worcester’s commanding 77-49 lead prompted head coach Newby to begin introducing his bench players to the court, finally easing Scorchers torment.
Amir Williams finished the evening with 21 points and 19 rebounds. Hughes and Edwards tallied 17 points apiece with the latter also pulling down 10 rebounds. Kofi Josephs posted 15 points, closely followed by Jordan Williams with 14.
