TWO victories in 24 hours kept Worcester Wolves on course for a high finish in England Basketball League Division One.

Wolves beat Essex and Herts Leopards 84-69 at home on Saturday before winning 84-64 at Teesside Mohawks yesterday.

The double success keeps Wolves in fourth place but level with third-placed Reading Rockets on 24 points and two points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester Magic.

A large crowd assembled at University College Worcester to see Wolves despatch Essex and Herts.

Worcester started at a breathtaking pace, with Josh Cooprider and Ty Shaw, who scored 33 points in the match, hitting three-pointers and Colin Chiverton adding some excellent jump shots as Wolves went into a 34-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Richard Onions was the star of a somewhat untidy second quarter, shooting well from all areas of the court as well as spoiling several Leopards attacks with aggressive defensive play.

Leopards guard Lloyd added some key baskets yet the hosts still held a comfortable 51-27 at half-time.

The visitors outscored Wolves in key areas of the court after the break as they began to whittle the gap down despite Cooprider and Shaw making inroads into the visitors' defence.

The final quarter opened with a long range three-pointer from Matt Collins but the game became ugly with several confrontations between both sets of players sparking angry reactions from the crowd.

The referees penalised the Leopards with some personal fouls but did not control some of the London side's outbursts with Cooprider consistently fouled late on. He responded by successfully converting his free throws as Wolves ran out winners.

Some of the physical confrontations continued after the final whistle.

n Wolves made the long trip north for the second part of their weekend double header.

The game started slowly with both teams struggling to make any real impact.

Eventually, Barry Lamble and Shaw converted rebounds from missed shots and Cooprider scored a three-pointer. Teeside responded with a trio of three-pointers within a minute to put them 15-7 ahead, but the quarter ended with the Mohawks leading just 16-15.

The second quarter saw a much- improved Wolves performance in the attacking half of the court.

Rikki Prince and Cooprider converted three-pointers from distance, while Chiverton, who hit 28 points in the fixture, and Shaw were scoring at will closer to the basket.

Wolves were still conceding baskets, however, and Teesside guard Nation was causing concern from the visitors although Worcester had established a 39-55 lead at the interval.

Worcester maintained their offensive momentum at the start of the second-half with Chiverton and Cooprider finding gaps in the Teeside defence, while Collins continued to control the play with some excellent passing.

As the third quarter drew to a close, Wolves had increased their lead to 61-52, yet Teeside were still playing with purpose.

In the final quarter, Chiverton and Shaw proved too strong, Cooprider again converting a three-pointer.

Jonathan Sketchley made his debut in the final minutes and the youngster quickly established himself defensively to contain Mohawks' late shooting threat.