WORCESTER Wolves will be hoping to make capital gains when they visit BBL Cup south group leaders London City Royals on Saturday.
Matt Newby’s men will make the trip to the Royals on the back of an up-and-down weekend with back-to-back games against former Wolves chief Paul James’ Plymouth Raiders side.
After a 104-100 high octane victory at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday (October 18), Wolves fell to a disappointing 83-53 reverse in Devon on Sunday.
In stark contrast to their scoring at home, Wolves struggled to put up little more than half of their earlier offensive output as they watched Plymouth coast to success.
An overpowering 30-6 second quarter tally left Raiders firmly in control at 43-24 by half-time.
A far more productive third period cheered Worcester but any thoughts of a comeback disappeared when they stumbled to just nine points in the final ten minutes of the match.
Jordan Williams started the afternoon in positive fashion for Wolves as he bullied his way to the game’s first five points.
Julius Van Sauers profited from deft passes from Williams and from guard Kofi Josephs to help create an 18-13 first quarter advantage for the visitors.
However, a couple of minutes after the restart Raiders had drawn level. By midway through the period, the hosts were 30-20 ahead and they were able to extend the lead.
Williams was the only Worcester player to break into double digits with 15 points. Conversely, Plymouth enjoyed the luxury of five men scoring in the teens.
Last Friday, Wolves had made it four BBL Cup wins from five with their 104-100 victory at home to Plymouth.
Josephs led the scoring for the hosts with 29 points, followed by Williams on 25 and Raheem May-Thompson with 19.
Josh Wilcher and Rashad Hassan dominated Raiders’ output with 24 and 23 points respectively.
After the trip to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Saturday (October 26) to face Royals, who have won five out of five cup matches, Wolves return to the University of Worcester Arena next Friday (November 1) to tackle the Bristol Flyers.
“The atmosphere in our arena has been fantastic,” said Newby.
“As soon as we hear the fans’ voices the boys get a lift and we lock in. I’m really thankful for their support and for the love they’re showing to the players.”