WORCESTER Wolves bounced back to winning ways with a fine 84-68 win over Cardiff Clippers at University College Worcester.

Wolves went into the game on the back of three successive National League Division One defeats, while Cardiff had made a promising start to the season and were in fourth place.

The Wolves started with Colin Chiverton, Nick Vinsonneau, Rhys Hocking, Rick Solvason and Gareth France in the first five with crowd favourite Ben Livingston beginning on the bench, which raised several eyebrows.

Worcester started brightly with Chiverton and Vinsonneau shooting well at close range. Hocking made an excellent start at both ends of the court dominating the rebounding and proving to be too fast for the Welsh visitors.

The main threat from Cardiff came from Anton Cassaglia who hit several three-pointers in the first quarter.

The first quarter ended level at 16-16 and at half time the difference between the two teams was only four points as the Wolves took the initiative mainly due to the work of Chiverton who punished the Cardiff defence with some excellent close range shooting.

Many in the crowd feared a Wolves collapse yet game coach Stuart France prompted an aggressive defensive performance at the start of the second half. Hocking continued to cause problems for the Cardiff defence who could not match his speed within their own zone.

The key factor of the second half, however, was the outstanding long range shooting of American player-coach Solvason who scored five three-pointers in the space of six minutes.

The Welsh team could not respond to the onslaught and the Wolves, who have been punished with temporary lapses in previous weeks, capitalised upon Cardiff's lack of concentration.

Vinsonneau secured the win with some fine individual moves in the latter stages to send the crowd home happy.

France said afterwards: "We defended well for long periods of the game - now we must go away and improve in other areas".

Solvason added: "Losing is not a good habit - we secured a win with an encouraging performance. The next two home games give us the opportunity to build on this result".

Scorers: Chiverton 23, Solvason 19, Vinsonneau 19, Hocking 11, Livingston 6, Di Gallo 3, G France 2, Brennan 1, Cooney.

Wolves entertain Liverpool next Saturday (7pm).