BBL Championship: Wolves fail to tame Lions at the Den!!

The Sky Sports cameras were ready and the stage was set for an animalistic affair at the MK Basketball Arena on Tuesday night. The Lions welcomed the The Wolf Pack to the Den however they made sure they didn’t out stay their welcome, as the hosts roared to a 99-82 victory live on Sky.

Both teams came into the game with a point to prove, after losing closely fought games against the Glasgow Rocks and the One Health Sharks Sheffield at the weekend.

With an obvious buzz of excitement around the arena, the game started well as Nuno Pedroso put the first three points on the board for the home side. The first three pointer of what was to be a fantastic 20 point game for the Portuguese guard. The Wolves came back with baskets from Tommy Freeman and Richie Gordon, and the two sides exchanged the lead for much of the first period. Great link play between Stefan Gill and Demarius Bolds, saw Gill open his scoring with 3 points to take The Lions into a lead of (17-15). An immediate response from Richie Gordon however, meant he slam dunked his way into the break with back to back baskets.  The Wolves were up (17-19)

The second quarter saw a huge display from the Lions defence, a notable difference from the Rocks game, which had been questioned by Mike New. As the crowd cheered for yet another Daniel Northern rebound, it opened up the court and enabled Demarius Bolds to sink basket after basket, eventually taking the score to (29-21) as the Lions began to pull away. Successive three pointers from Tommy Freeman however, brought the Wolves right back into the mix and the lead was cut to (32-29)

Ladies and gentlemen (and Sky Sports viewers) we had a game on our hands!

The visitors began to find themselves in all sorts of trouble in the latter half of the second quarter. Not only were they beaten by the shot clock, the impressive Lions defence were forcing a number of turnovers. The home side looked hungry, so much so that an 8-2 tear away instigated by Demarius Bolds and Daniel Northern, with another three points from Pedroso, put the Lions ahead by 10. (40-30) The Wolves tried to pull back with baskets from Richie Gordon, however the first half ended with Lions on top (44-36).

The second half started much as the first finished, with the Lions in control. A three pointer from Sherrad Prezzie-Blue gave the visitors a glimmer of hope before Lions put their foot on the gas once again. Consecutive baskets off the Lions defence, from Howard Crawford, Daniel Northern and Demarius Bolds propelled the home side into a (54-41) lead. Bolds became a Lion the Wolves found hard to tame, as they began to double mark him in the closing stages of the third quarter. A game plan that failed however, as he became MK’s top scorer with Pedroso finishing on 20 points.

The intense, high energy game meant both Daniel Northern and Demarius Bolds found themselves on four personal fouls. Coach Mike New made the decision to rest his two front men on the bench, which Paul James and his Wolves certainly made the most of. Three pointers from Tommy Freeman, Arnas Kazlauskas and David Watts with baskets from the ever present Richie Gordon slashed the Lions lead to a mere two points (62-60). You began to think this game might go right to the wire!

Wolves continued to dominate with an 18-4 run, putting them ahead (64-67). A singular point from Sherrad Prezzie-Blue with a second to spare began to sink the hearts of the MK fans (70-72). Yet an epic three pointer on the buzzer from Nuno Pedroso shook not only the Wolves, but even the Sky Sports cameras began to wobble.

Pedroso’s buzzer beater became the ultimate injection of form the Lions needed going into the final period. Great shooting from Stefan Gill and Pedroso gave the home side a lead of (82-74).

Despite another impressive three points from Kazlauskas and constant battling from Gordon, the Wolves only managed to pull back the score to (84-79) A crowd pleasing slam dunk from Howard Crawford was the final body blow for the visitors, as the 6ft 8 forward also managed to sink his own rebound for two. The game ended with a tremendous win at home for MK on a night where none of Mike New’s Lions were going to be tamed…  Especially not Pedroso!

Prestige Homes MK Lions 99 (17,44,73) (Bolds/Pedroso 20, Gill 19)
Worcester Wolves 82 (19,36,72) (Gordon 27, Freeman/Kazlauskas 18)