WORCESTER Wolves triumphed 89-88 over Plymouth Raiders in the National Basketball Trophy.

The University College Worcester halls were full 20 minutes before tip-off to welcome the high profile Raiders, a side that have dominated the National Conference for the past ten years.

Wolves sent out a starting five that included Rick Solvason, Ben Livingston, Colin Chiverton, Josh Cooprider and Nick Vinsonneau.

American shooting guard Cooprider opened the game with two long range three point shots in the first minute.

Love and Riley responded for Ply-mouth yet Cooprider came back with two more three point scores. The first quarter closed with Plymouth's Beasley scoring from the corner to give the visitors a 20-19 lead.

At the other end of the court Chiver-ton, Vinsonneau and Solvason found success to keep the Wolves in the game. Paul Gerald for the Worcester team was proving a key factor in terms of holding the bigger team at bay.

At half time, still only one point separated the team. The start of the second half saw Livingston control the play with Cooprider again finding his range.

The game became physical at both ends yet it was Plymouth who were be-ing penalised by the referees for fouling. It was in this quarter that Chiverton began to find gaps in the Raiders defence and when the visitors focused on the Worcester forwards, Solvason, Livingston and Cooprider used the extra space to shoot from long range.

Going into the final quarter the Wolves led by five points.

Plymouth went into a full-court press in the final quarter and within two minutes they only trailed by one point.

It was at this stage that Paul Gerald received a heavy blow to his chin and despite the efforts of the Worcester medical team to stop the flow of blood the referees ordered Gerald off.

Vinsonneau came back into the game and had to take the foul shots that the injured Wolves had been awarded. The Frenchman scored one of them to regain a one point lead. In the final minutes the two teams exchanged baskets and Cooprider scored one of two free shots to give the Wolves a two point lead with five seconds remaining.

Plymouth got the ball to Beasley who shot a three point attempt to steal the game. The shot missed but the referee called a foul by Chiverton which meant with the game over the Plymouth forward had three free shots to win the game. He had to make all of the shots to win the game; if he made 2 of them, it would mean overtime.

The Worcester crowd greeted the shots with deafening noise Beesley made the first shot and now the travelling fans made the noise. He then missed the next two shots and as the unfortunate Beesley sank to his knees, the home party began.

Cooprider top scored with 34 points and Paul Gerald and Colin Chiverton took the most defensive rebounds.