A FAMILIAR face came back to haunt Worcester as ex-forward David Watts blitzed the Wolves with 29 points during the upset victory at the University of Worcester.

Wolves went into the game having lost the night before to an in-form Sheffield Sharks, but would have expected to be able to deal with opponents who had won just three games since the start of this year.

Worcester, however, had no answer in defence to a barrage of accurate three-point shooting from Watts and Giants’ point guard Stefan Gill, while Alex Owumi was left to plough a lone furrow offensively, finishing with 30 points.

The game began ponderously with Arturas Masiulis notching Wolves’ first four points and Sherrad Prezzie-Blue hit a triple for a 9-8 lead after six minutes.

Although the hosts led by 19-13 at the end of the opening quarter, ominously, it had been left to Owumi to tally the remainder of his team’s scoring output.

Kalil Irving extended the Wolves’ lead to nine points, but it was from that point that the match turned as Manchester set off on a commanding 21-4 run over the next five minutes.

Gill hit consecutive three-pointers and then a two.

Kalil Irving impeded Watts as he put the ball through the hoop and the former Wolves’ stalwart also made the bonus free throw.

Gill passed to Watts for a three, and Watts returned the favour for a Gill triple, forcing exasperated Wolves’ coach Paul James to request time out, trailing 25-34.

Manchester went into the half-time break leading 47-35, with Gill and Watts already on 16 and 12 points respectively, while Owumi was the only player to make any significant impact for Wolves with 16 points.

As the second-half opened it soon became clear that Wolves had been unable to formulate a plan to deal with Giants’ incessant rain of outside shooting.

England guards James Jones and Devan Bailey joined the three-point frenzy, increasing their side’s advantage to 54-40 after a couple of minutes.

Entering the final 10 minutes, Stan Ocitti made a basket to reduce the deficit to 59-73, but home supporters were again left to gaze in wonder at the power of Watts as he immediately responded by floating in yet another score.

Although Worcester small forwards Carlos Fernandez and Kai Williams briefly ignited to support the scoring of a tiring Owumi, the continuation of numerous careless passes, wayward shooting and an inability to close down Giants’ attackers, confirmed the game was lost.