Raiders outplayed by Wolves
It was a case of too little too late for the Raiders as they found themselves outplayed, outsmarted, and outworked by a clinical Worcester team.
The result means Worcester kept their hopes of reaching the Trophy semi finals alive, whilst the Raiders must beat the Heat next weekend to secure their spot in the knock-out stages.
The Wolves who were out to avenge the defeat they suffered at home to the Raiders two weeks ago, played with a fluidity and calmness on the offensive end that marked a stark contrast to the rigid and often static play by the Raiders, who experienced costly dry spells over the second and third quarters.
Worcester moved the ball with ease against a Raiders defence reluctant to come out and cover shooters, with Prezzie-Blue and Kazlauskas in particular making their presence felt behind the three point line in the first half. Plymouth found themselves floundering offensively, on too many occasions they failed to get a clean look at the basket, and relied far too heavily on guards Smith and Martin to break their man down one on one.
After a competitive first quarter that Worcester edged 20-23, Plymouth seemed to go away from what was working early on and failed to command the paint, both Colbert and Williams looking lacklustre and failing to assert themselves throughout the rest of the contest. Gordon and Kazlauskas provided Wolves with a varied and versatile attack that spearheaded a 16-2 run to close out the half and take a commanding 32-45 lead into the break.
Worcester stamped their authority on the second half from the very beginning, and were in no mood to let up as they stretched their lead to 21 thanks to a 10-0 run that saw the life sucked out of the Pavilions crowd, as their home side looked helpless against the continuing Worcester onslaught. Freeman came to life and was proving to tough to stop as he scored freely on the perimeter and getting himself to the free throw line at will. For Plymouth Rowe was battling hard, but it appeared that his every score was matched by another Worcester basket.
Down 51-76 to start the fourth and not wanting to embarrass themselves in front of a despondent home crowd, the Raiders found some energy. Coach Love changed up the defence to a full court zone press, James Jones proved instrumental and was the spark that ignited the Plymouth fight back. Time and time again it was Jones who was chasing down lose balls and forcing the once smooth Worcester offence to splutter. Raiders went on their own 16-2 run and brought the deficit down to ten at 74-84, momentum was entirely with the home team and it looked like an historic come from behind victory was on the cards.
However, Worcester were not prepared to be the reasons for a Plymouth celebration, and soon regained some control and went blow for blow with the Raiders to close out the game 85-96, led by a potent offensive attack from Freeman and Gordon.
