Cheshire Jets 59 Worcester Wolves 98
Worcester Wolves claimed a BBL Championship victory over Cheshire Jets, 59-98, at Northgate Arena, as the home side took to the court without their player-coach James Hamilton, who has been initially suspended for an incident prior to game night.
Haydn Cook, director of Cheshire Jets, spoke after the game to confirm Hamilton’s absence: “An incident occurred at a juniors match between two adults, and as a result, James Hamilton has been given an initial 48-hour suspension whilst we investigate further into the events.”
Despite this set back for Cheshire, it could not stop a weekend of wins for Worcester Wolves, who were dominant from the off.
The stat cast was not fully accurate in regards to end of quarter score lines, but that was irrelevant as Wolves continued with the momentum from Saturday night’s drubbing of Mersey Tigers, taking the lead after 39 seconds and never looking back.
The second quarter effectively killed the game off with Worcester going 23-50 into the locker room, with 18 defensive rebounds compared to Jets’ meagre three offensive boards half way through the game.
The lead extended, and although there were flashes of Cheshire brilliance, it was to be just that, as Wolves hit back with even more. Shawn Myers, who had claimed a double-double (11 rebounds in the second half alone), and Chez Marks, playing for the entire game, tried to keep their side in touch but could not match what Worcester had to offer.
Daniel Belgrave missed just two shots on the night on his way to a 26 point haul for Wolves, including five three pointers, out of his side’s collective tally of 12.
Andy Green, who took the mantle of being in charge, spoke after the defeat, both on the events leading up to the game and the game itself: “It was a difficult situation. I told the guys in the locker room that I needed their help and to step up and they did; we did the best that we could do.
“Credit to Shawn and Chez, all the guys who were helping me with some of the plays. I’m not at every training session, and I was not expecting to be called up this morning to step in tonight to be in charge.
“It was tough after Sheffield. I felt we could have had Worcester. Any team that’s got a big win the previous night is going to be pumped up. We did what we could do, but we just didn’t take care of the outside shooting, and three guys killed us from the outside.”
Worcester head coach, Paul James, was more happy about the way in which his side have progressed as a team, considering the problem of not having Sherrad Prezzie-Blue as a part of their line-up: “I thought we made it easier than the score line looked. We were in a better rhythm than we have been so far this season. We made good open shots that we haven’t been making as well.
“I’ve been concentrating on what we’ve been doing, mistakes and errors that we need to iron out. I didn’t even look at the result from here last week. We had a bad result against Surrey, a game where we could have won, like many others. Guys are starting to settle down and understand what is required for us to be a good team.
“You can’t judge anything; we’re without our starting point guard, our leader. We’re papering over the cracks a bit, but they are getting a feel for what they have to do and we can start to see that we’re on the way to being a pretty good ball club.”
