WORCESTER Wolves visit Sheffield Sharks tomorrow night for a key British Basketball League Championship game that neither side can afford to lose.

Victory for Sharks would seal the head-to-head BBL Championship series between the sides, as Sharks have already beaten Skouson Harker's team 96-86 at the EIS.

Justice Graham led all scorers in the game with 31 points for the Sharks, ably assisted by Randy George who netted 28 points. Antony Paez led the Wolves, scoring 27 points.

Worcester gained revenge in the BBL Trophy, winning 125-121 in a high-scoring thriller in Yorkshire, with James Life and Paez each scoring 32 points, and then winning 84-81 at home to wrap up their first place in a BBL semi-final.

Sharks' coach Pete Scantlebury is in no doubt about the importance of the game, "It's a big match, we're looking at the play-off race now and they are just below us. If we can win the game it will give us a cushion, but if we lose they will be back in it.

"We need to stop Wolves transition game, especially Paez and Life. We've got to get them out of their flow.

"We started poorly last time we played them, and trailed by 19. We played well for the final three-quarters, and only lost by three, but clearly we need to play for all four."

Sharks went down 85-73 at Plymouth Raiders last Saturday and coach Scantlebury slammed the referees after the game, "We were beaten by the better team, and it wasn't Plymouth. They had 40 free-throws to our nine, and in the second-half they were called for only four fouls - two of which were when the game was effectively over."

"The frustrating thing is we were in a zone for the most of the first half, but we still got called for twice as many fouls."

However, Scantlebury was pleased with his side's display at Raiders, Wolves player-coach Skouson Harker is looking to build on last week's thrilling 67-66 win against Leicester Riders, "It's what we needed, it was ugly but we got the win. After the half-time break they slowed the game down to snail's pace and we missed a lot of shots.

"But they got it together and were much improved from the last time we played them.

"Leicester play deep and more effective in the front court with White, McKnight and Roderick Wellington coming off the bench. I was surprised he didn't play more minutes, because he can be really effective."

Harker knows that Sheffield will be looking for revenge for their Trophy exit, "They'll feel they owe us one and it will be pretty intense. It's a massive game for us, but their key guys seem to be having trouble scoring at the moment.

"They have three or four players who can do it on any given night. Chaney can get going, but if Justice Graham gets a couple of early three-balls he can do a lot of damage.

"Both teams have struggled to gel at times despite having a lot of talent. We make it hard for ourselves because we try to make the tough play.

"It's not going to be down to threes and dunks, it will be the team who hustles and takes the charges that will come out on top."