WORCESTER Wolves won 101-98 at Brighton in their final National Basketball League Division Three game of the season.

There was a large crowd and Brighton needed the win to secure fourth place in the league, Wolves having already established second position.

The game started with the Wolves only having six players available due to injuries. Brighton came out strongly, and within the first eight minutes had taken a 20 point lead.

Watson of Brighton hit four three-pointers with Nick Vinsonneau the only real threat to the Brighton defence. The Wolves made several attempts to change their defence's strategy, but Brighton were still pulling away.

However, in the final four minutes of the first half, player-coach Rick Solvason began to find his range from the three-point line and Wolves managed to go into half time only 12 points behind.

At the start of the second half, despite the six players beginning to feel fatigued, the Wolves began to reduce the Brighton lead even further. Ben Livingstone scored two three-point attempts, and Colin Chiverton was creating many problems for the Brighton defence underneath their basket.

Lee Clark was introduced to do a man-to-man job on Brighton's Watson, and throughout the second half the Brighton guard was limited to two points. Going into the last five minutes Brighton led by only two points.

The teams them exchanged baskets, and with a minute to go Solvason's long range efforts gave the Wolves the lead. The game ended with Chiverton completing a spectacular slam dunk which silenced the Brighton crowd.

Solvason felt that the commitment shown by the six Wolves players was one of the most encouraging aspects of the season so far.

Next weekend the Wolves will be in the play-off tournament at University College Worcester on Sunday at 4pm.

Scores: Solvason 36; Chiverton 23; Vinsonneau 20; Livingstone 13; France 5; Clark 2.