WORCESTER Wolves ended their most successful season in triumphant style as they beat the league champions to win the BBL Playoffs.
Wolves beat Newcastle Eagles 90-78 in front of more than 8,000 people at London’s Wembley Arena to claim their second major piece of silverware of the campaign following their BBL Trophy success in March.
After a brilliant season, Wolves saved one of their finest displays until the very last day as they dominated a team regarded as one of the best in British Basketball’s history – winning by a clear margin of twelve points.
Zaire Taylor, who was voted the league’s best player a fortnight ago, produced another sterling display on court as his massive tally of 30 points helped Wolves to another memorable win.
Starting the season without any BBL trophy to their name, Paul James’ talented side have claimed two titles within six weeks – making this the most successful period in the club’s history.
A delighted Wolves director of basketball Paul James said: “I’m overjoyed for the players, fans and everyone involved with the organization.
“We executed our plays brilliantly and performed superbly on defence, disrupting Newcastle when we switched from man-to-man to zone defence, and back again.”
“It has been an awesome day with five or six coachloads of fans following us to Wembley. They played their part in our success.”
Chasing their second major title, Wolves made a roaring start to proceedings as Taylor and captain Alex Owumi helped Wolves to a brilliant 23-9 run giving them a 29-15 first quarter lead.
But the second quarter saw Newcastle hit back as brilliant shooting from Darius Defoe and Scott Martin helped the league winners close the gap to just a single point towards half-time.
With the final on a knife-edge, Wolves stepped up a gear in the second half as to restore their advantage as Taylor yet again took centre stage on one of the biggest arenas of them all.
The former Leicester bundled Paul Gause aside and laid the ball home before making three successive scores to accelerate Wolves’ lead to a commanding 67-46.
Holding a healthy 72-52 advantage into the final quarter of the season, a well-earned brief exhalation of Worcester breath allowed Gause to sink seven swift points to help close the sides to 75-61.
But business resumed for Worcester as Wolves put the icing on the cake with a three-pointers from Taylor and Jamal Williams.
When the referee blew up for full-time waves of Worcester fans swept on to the Wembley court to join the celebrations.
