Wolves nothing short of impressive against Rocks

Worcester Wolves 87 Glasgow Rocks 65

As I rose from my bench on campus I wrote JOB DONE on my notepad.

The Worcester Wolves controlled the game against the third placed team in the league from start to finish in Worcester. And it was their shooting from 20 feet that allowed them to exert that control. This Wolves side have started slowly in games this season in the Championship, so when the first ten ended 30-21 in favour of the home side things looked ominous early for the Rocks.

Both sides looked like they were stretching their legs in the first after a long night for Worcester on the road and a long journey down for Glasgow. Worcester weren’t getting much joy inside early on but they didn’t need it as they quickly got in to their rythym from behind the arc. When Green opened Glasgow’s account with a three and Cranston dominated for an early two it looked like we were in for the contest we expected. Both sides traded buckets with nice threes from Freeman, Kaslauskas and Wedemire but the Wolves defence gave them the springboard to get ahead of their opponents as they began to thwart Glasgow in possession.

Both these sides can hurt you from anywhere on the court and have deep rosters but Wolves knew that keeping Green relatively quiet was the key to taking the two points. Finishing the evening with a modest 13 points from 38 minutes, Worcester had delivered on their pre-game plan. Green had a hand in his face pretty much all night resulting in the guard shooting just 27% from the field.

In contrast, the Wolves have no less than four men who can hurt you from distance and they all played their part as just under half (42) of Worcester’s final points tally came from the perimeter.

The Rocks had no answer to this. Having established that early lead, Worcester were able to play a lot of the game drawing Glasgow away from the basket to guard the threat from outside. As Glasgow came high, Gordon often found himself free at the low post. The dominant centre racked up 18 points, converting 80% from the field. He also showed excellent distribution in transition as a tough Worcester defence frustrated Glasgow throughout.

There was a spell in the second where Glasgow were able to find a way to stop Worcester from scoring and to get their way back in to the contest. Worcester’s lead which once stood at 19 in the quarter was reigned back in to 12 as Glasgow played a tight inside five and broke up the home side’s possession. In fairness though this was largely due to the fact that Arnas Kaslauskas and Tommy Freeman were taking a breather and they were quickly reintroduced by Coach James to keep the Rocks at a safe distance.

Wolves were sloppy in the third at times as they continued to work the ball around the perimeter but you can’t be too critical of what was a very professional, well coached and disciplined performance by the now top of the table Wolves. It’s hyperthetical, but in fairness to Glasgow also, if Worcester had not been so accurate from three it would have been very tough to find room in the paint.

In summary, the Wolves stopped the Rocks, scored heavily from three and with that constant threat they were able to exploit the room in behind. Gordon, Freeman and Kaslauskas led the Worceter scorers but notable mentions go to Fernandez who contributed from 17 foot on a couple of occassions with important jump shots when Wolves couldn’t get inside, Jones who finished with four assists and David Watts who drained important baskets from three at key moments in the game.

Sherrad Prezzie-Blue played just 25 minutes after he was credited with three personal fouls in the first half.

Everybody played their part defensively and this group of players have the potential to get even stronger as a unit. They made a win against a side who have won two thirds of their Championship games look routine. That is why the words job done were the last words I wrote on my notepad.

Worcester Wolves 87 (30,48,66) Freeman 23, Gordon 18, Kazlauskas 16
Glasgow Rocks 65 (21,37,51) Wedemire 18, Green 13, Murray 12