A Worcester Wolves team peppered with new faces had to settle for second-best as they tested themselves against Northants Titans on Saturday in pre-season action.

A see-saw first-half at the University of Worcester Arena saw Northants edge 40-39 ahead, but after the break it was the visitors who displayed greater coherence to take a 76-60 victory.

Despite the defeat, Coach Dean Blake saw the match as an opportunity to further the preparations for his side’s upcoming National Basketball League campaign.

“This game was more about getting the cobwebs out than the result,” said Blake.

“We have a new team here with players who we need to be able to get onto the same page and in some ways the game helped to do that.

“Northants have some good players and shot the ball well. There’s a lot we want to iron out but, in terms of getting a runout, today was good for us.”

Returning wings Emmanuel Yeboah and Zak Riabi took turns to fire in three-pointers and push Worcester 14-8 in front by midway through the opening quarter.

The hosts still held sway at 24-18 as the quarter concluded and in the run up to half-time stalwart guard Wilfrid Santhe and lively big man Jeremy Lievin both added to the home scoring.

The second-half saw Wolves struggle to impact the scoreboard and struggle to contain Titan attackers, allowing a 63-47 third-quarter lead to build.

A burst of late Yeboah points prevented the margin of defeat widening.

Yeboah and Santhe led the scoring with 20 and 14 points respectively.

Wolves will open their regular-season fixtures next Saturday 28 September (7.30pm) when they welcome Bristol Academy Flyers to the University of Worcester Arena.

“We’ll continue to work on getting to know each other as we now prepare for next weekend against Bristol,” added Blake.