Saturday, November 19, 2005

LACK-LUSTRE Worcester Wolves crashed out of the England Basketball League's National Cup semi-finals with a 84-51 defeat to Essex and Herts Leopards.

It was billed as the biggest game in the club's history, with a high-profile final at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena at stake for the winners.

Wolves, currently top of division one, entered the fixture on the back of one defeat in 13, which came last Sunday with a 85-79 reverse at Essex.

And the Leopards made it back-to-back victories at the Gorsebrook Sports Centre.

In the final on Sunday, December 4, they will face Reading Rockets, who beat the City of Sheffield Arrows 96-92 in the other, much closer, semi-final showdown.

The Leopards gained a strong win on home territory, while from the start of the tie, Worcester struggled with their shooting accuracy, with matters getting particularly worse in the second half of the contest.

At the beginning, the Leopards won the tip, but immediately lost the ball to an over-long pass.

Worcester brought the ball back up court to Valdas Urbonavicius, who sunk a two-pointer to give the visitors an early lead.

However, the Leopards were quick to respond and after five minutes were leading 8-4.

After this tentative start, Worcester then stepped up a gear to close to 13-12 by the end of the quarter.

But the Leopards were still looking strong, and it was clear at a very early stage that Worcester were not going to be given an easy time.

Matt Collins weaved through the Leopards' defence to sink two points to open the second quarter for Worcester.

On the next offence, he was ring-fenced into a corner, then pushed off-court, but no foul was called by the officials.

The home team quickly adjusted to overcome Worcester's burst of power in the latter stages of the previous quarter and gradually began to pull away from them in the latter few minutes of the quarter.

After eight-and-a-half minutes, the Leopards led 32-28 and it rapidly got worse for the visitors as the rampant home side put together a 6-0 run. The quarter ended 37-28 to the home side.

Worcester opened the third quarter with a three-pointer from Matt Collins, but struggled to follow this up.

The next points came from Ty Shaw a couple of minutes later. However, the Leopards continued to push hard and after closing a little briefly, Worcester again began to drop further behind the home side.

On eight-and-a-half minutes, Worcester trailed 50-39 behind the Leopards and the situation continued to get worse, with E&H's Salter sinking three points with just two seconds left on the clock.

Matt Collins attempted a long shot from within his own half, brushed the net, but failed to go in, closing the quarter 57-39 to the Leopards.

Shaw was fouled early in the final quarter, sinking both free shots. He then went on to sink another two points under immense pressure from the Leopards' defence.

However, the home side continued to pull away and Worcester's prospects looked increasingly bleak.

Andy Harper was called for his fourth foul of the match on 5½ minutes.

The last points of the game for Worcester came from Rob Clarke who sunk two points with a couple of minutes remaining on the clock.

The Leopards continued to score well through to the end of the game. The buzzer sounded, and the Leopards had won 84-51 and will go on to face Reading in the final at the NIA.