CENTRE Will Creekmore says winning the British Basketball League championship is top of the agenda for Worcester Wolves.
There are high hopes for Wolves this season following several key summer recruits, including the 6ft 9ins American, and their move to the University Arena.
That potential was underlined with last Friday’s 73-61 victory over defending champions Leicester Riders at the Hylton Road venue in front of a crowd of 1,700.
Another bumper turn-out is expected for tonight’s home match against Cheshire Phoenix (7.30) and Creekmore is hoping Wolves, who finished fifth last season, can replicate their Leicester heroics.
“Our goal is to win the championship — to win everything,” the 24-year-old said. “I think we have a chance to win titles and that’s the reason I came here.
“It’s been a good start. As a team and individually, I feel pretty good about where we’re at.
“Against Leicester we did really well defensively. I didn’t shoot as well as I was hoping to but we got the job done.
“I didn’t expect a big crowd and the fans were really energetic from start to finish. They were a big reason why we were able to come back in the fourth quarter and get the win.
“I hope we gave them a good product on the floor and convinced them to come out and keep watching.”
Cheshire lost their first two matches against Sheffield Sharks (73-61) and Newcastle Eagles (106-65) but got off the mark with an 83-71 victory over Manchester Giants last Sunday.
They have also strengthened their ranks by adding former Worcester small forward Kai Williams, whose brother Jamal joined Wolves in the summer.
Director of basketball Paul James, whose side travelled to London Lions last night, said: “Cheshire will be coming here with a little bit of confidence and have just signed Kai which gives them strength.
“It’s going to be a tough test again but, as far as I’m concerned, it’s about what we do as a team.
“We’ve set our bar high and have got to keep that level up. If we play the way we know we can, I think we will be fine.”
James added: “We know about Kai’s strengths and weaknesses so we will deal with that but we have got to focus on what we do.
“Defensively, we were fantastic against Leicester. Will didn’t have the greatest offensive game and neither did Alex (Owumi) so there’s still plenty more to come from us as well.”
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