WORCESTER Wolves suffered a minor setback going into next week's British Basketball League play-off quarter-final after an 84-82 defeat at the hands of the PAWS London Capital at the University of Worcester.

Following Everton's victory over Scottish Rocks the previous evening, Wolves were guaranteed eighth position at best.

The Capital started strongly and opened up with an early 11-2 burst, but Wolves responded immediately with a 16-7 tear of their own to bring the score back to 19-18.

While most of the Wolves players were struggling to settle into their offensive game, Chuck Evans led the revival with some excellent drives to basket.

The remainder of the first-half saw both sides trading baskets and it was Wolves who went in at half-time with their noses in front by a score of 37-36. A key concern for the home side at this stage focused upon the amount of rebounds being taken by the London outfit.

The second-half saw Wolves attempt to put some distance between them and their opponents with a 7-0 run to take the score out to 60-50.

James Life and Anthony Paez were finally beginning to find their range after a subdued start.

The Capital fought back and scored 10 of the next 12 points to get to within two points at 62-60 midway through the final period.

Going into the closing stages, the sides were tied at 80-80 before Skouson Harker made two free-throws to give the Wolves an 82-80 lead.

Ibrahim Gariba tied it again for the Capital, before Marcus Knight won the game for the visitors with 2.2 seconds remaining.

The Wolves had a chance to win the game, but Evans' long-range shot as time expired bounced out.

Paez led the Wolves scoring with 20 points, thus making him the BBL's leading scorer. Life and Evans scored 15 points, while Shaun Durant took 11 rebounds and finished as the BBL's highest rebounder.

Director of basketball Mick Donovan said: "We never really got going and our minds seemed elsewhere at times. We now have a crucial week of preparation as we go into one of the biggest games in our history when we travel up to Newcastle for the play-off game against the BBL champions."