HEAD coach Paul James has targeted a first-leg lead for Worcester Wolves in tomorrow’s British Basketball League play-off quarter-final against Surrey Heat (7pm).

Wolves are chasing a place in the last four for the first time in their history and want to head to Guildford on Sunday (3pm) holding the advantage.

With a potential semi-final being hosted at the new Worcester Arena, which the University of Worcester take ownership of today, James is determined for his players to seize the initiative.

He said: “Like when we played Leicester in the BBL Trophy semi-finals, I think the first leg is very important.

“We can put a lot of pressure on Heat if we can come out here and get a lead going to their place.

“Especially if it’s a double-figure lead, it puts a lot of pressure on them so that’s what we’re hoping to do.

“We’re looking to get at them early on, play tough defence and move the ball well.

“As I’ve said all year, our fans can make the difference.

“We’re now nearing the end of our stay at the university sports hall with the move to the new arena on the horizon.

“I want our supporters to give us that extra push tomorrow before we move on to even bigger things in the future.”

Wolves have met Surrey three times this season, losing 71-69 away in October and going down to a 97-91 over-time defeat at the university in January.

However, they recorded a comfortable 99-81 home victory against James’ former side in February and will be out to replicate that.

Worcester also come into the match having despatched Leicester Riders 86-58 and Plymouth Raiders 106-69 last weekend.

The Wolves boss was delighted with the contribution of his players in those games with the majority chipping in alongside points machine Alex Owumi, who has been named in the BBL team-of-the-week six times this season.

James added: “Alex has been tremendous all season long but, when we start getting Arturas Masiulis into double figures along with Stan Ocitti, Kai Williams, Sherrad Prezzie-Blue and Carlos Fernandez, we’re a very tough team to stop.

“Who do teams guard because everybody is scoring?

“We should be going into these games with sky-high confidence but not complacency because they’re a good team and we’re going to have to do our homework well.

“Surrey will be a tough series. We lost two close games with them earlier in the season but then beat them convincingly in February.”