Worcester progress in Trophy against short Plymouth

Worcester Wolves progressed into the quarter finals of the BBL Trophy beating Plymouth Raiders 90-77.

In their previous match up on the 2nd of December when neither Sherrad Prezzie-Blue or Kai Williams were available for Worcester; a full strength Plymouth side capitalised with a 87-65 victory. This time however it was the Raiders who were short of players, turning up at the game with just two subs and missing for a second game in a row former league MVP, Jeremy Bell.

It was evident in the first quarter that both teams were feeling the effects of the Christmas break and perhaps a bit too much turkey as the first quarter ended at just 19-17.

Wolves’ Arturas Masiulis wasted no time in making an impact, converting a skyhook, dunk and reverse layup for the Wolves as they looked to get him the ball to generate offence after struggling with their shooting.

Frustrations were running high from the beginning for Plymouth; coach Gavin Love received a technical for arguing with the referee after controversial calls. This lead to Alex Owumi converting one of two free throws plus possession which Arnas Kazlauskas converted to tie the game at 15.

In the first half Worcester failed to convert on any threes, whilst Plymouth’s Javarris Barnett was yet to miss from beyond the arch with three triples. Prezzie-Blue broke the Wolves shooting drought with their first three of the game with 1:41 left in the half to bring his team within one – 30-31. But it was Matt Schneck who silenced the home crowd with a huge put back jam off Drew Lasker’s miss but still neither team could extend a lead of more than five points.

Heading into the fourth, the score was tied at 56-56, Barnett led all scorers with 16, and Masiulis led Worcester with 14. Forced to the bench through foul trouble, Masiulis made an instant impact when subbed back in, receiving a timely assist from Stanley Ocitti converting the “and one” and then getting a block on the defensive end. Things started to open up for Worcester as a result; Owumi buried a three to put Worcester up by 10. It was downhill from then on for Plymouth, Michael Ojo fouled out and was soon followed by teammate Williams and Matthew Schneck – leaving them with just four players on the floor for the last minute of the game.

Wolves’ centre Masiulis finished with a double-double, 22 points and 10 rebounds, Ocitti also recorded a double double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Raiders’ Barnett finished with a game high 24 points in the loss. The home side dominated the paint with 44 inside compared to 14 from Plymouth.

Plymouth Coach Gavin Love commented: “Jeremy Bell is back in the States for personal reasons and that’s it really. We also have a young academy of guys who couldn’t make it. I thought we did really well, I thought that the effort was there and the execution was there but we came up short finishing around the hoop. I thought the game would be really good but I thought the referees kind of ruined the game a bit for both teams, they couldn’t decide the inbound calls let alone any other ones apart from that I thought that two even teams going at it and they got the better of us and made an important run in the 4th quarter.

“Barnett knocked down some shots, played a good game today. I have no idea why I got a technical. Talking? Conversing? I mean I thought you were allowed to talk to your referees maybe I’m wrong? I’ll look that one up.

“Next up we’ve got Glasgow so I think if we play like that we’ll be fine, Worcester have got a very tough team, we came up short handed even when we did a really good job.”

Worcester’s Arturas Masiulis commented: “It was quite hard having had a break for Christmas. I’m a little bit disappointed with my performance because of the fouls and coach having to bench me so I’m not 100% satisfied but it was not a bad performance.”

Plymouth’s Javarris Barnett commented: “I think that we fought hard with what we had, a couple of calls didn’t go our way at the end but overall I think we played a great game together. Defensively we did good with what we had, the effort was there, the execution was there, but we just fell short. Praise to Worcester, they played a great game and came out with the win.

Worcester Coach Paul James added: “I think it was a great performance for us. It’s a competition we wanted to be in at the end of the game so I think we did a great job. It was close for three quarters, in the fourth we did some really good things, consecutive stops and easy buckets at the other end because of it and it’s great to be in the second round of the draw now.

“We tried to focus on getting the ball into Masiulis a little bit more where he can actually be more effective with it and certainly now that we’ve got Prezzie back we’re able to do that and find him where he can be more effective. I think he had 20 points and 10 rebounds in about 28 minutes of basketball so I think that’s a fantastic effort on his behalf. In general I thought everyone that stepped on the floor played their part and Plymouth are a tough team and I think we did a good job in grinding them down and getting them into foul trouble to the point where they had four players on the court at the end.

“The fact is we played on the 22nd and then had time off then came back on the 27th for a light session, so we had that Christmas break there. Shooting is a rhythm thing, so have a long break like that sometimes can hurt your shot. Alex didn’t shoot well, Prezzie didn’t shoot well but we made some key shots when we needed to.”

Game MVP: Arturas Masiulis

Play of the game: Matthew Schneck’s huge put-back dunk of the Drew Lasker miss to stop Worcester’s unanswered run.

Next up:

Worcester Wolves away at Leicester Riders on the 5th of January, 7.30pm tip.

Plymouth Raiders away at Glasgow Rocks on the 6th January. 5.00pm tip.