Saturday, April 1, 2006

WORCESTER Wolves' promotion dreams were shattered by Manchester Magic as they slipped to a narrow 80-76 defeat in the English Basketball League Division One play-offs.

Manchester secured the home advantage over Worcester by finishing one place higher in the league.

The packed Ameochi Centre and passionate Manchester crowd presented an extra challenge for Wolves.

However, they did recieve a major boost before the game when Andy Harper declared himself fit to play following concerns all week with an injured wrist.

Manchester were relieved to regain the services of England International Dale Herriman who returned with his bronze medal from Commonwealth Games duty.

In the opening minutes Manchester justified their higher ranking with an electrifying start led by Americans Troy Sledge and Kenny Roberts.

Valdas Urbonavicius appeared unfazed by the noisy atmosphere and responded with two three-pointers to settle the Wolves early nerves.

Sledge and Hogarth continued to find their range for the Magic as they raced into a 22-15 first quarter lead.

A major concern for the Wolves was that they had missed 50 per cent of their shots from the free throw line. However, an even bigger worry was the fact that Ty Shaw had collected three fouls in the opening seven minutes and was going to be forced to spend a lengthy period of this crucial encounter on the bench.

Joseph Forde was introduced to cover for Shaw and, despite coming up against bigger opponents, the Worcester youngster made an outstanding contribution and clearly unsettled the Manchester forwards.

Offensively for Wolves, Matt Collins made some excellent three-point attempts and Harper started to stamp his authority on the game with some fine close range shooting and well executed drives to basket.

Urbonavicius collected his third foul and he joined Shaw on the bench as the spirited Wolves moved into a 37-35 lead at half-time.

The third quarter remained a tense and even affair, Shaw rejoined the game for the Wolves and Harper hit a series of three-pointers to maintain the Wolves lead -- 61-54 going into the final quarter.

This period saw Manchester make an early run with Roberts and Hogarth scoring. Herriman made some strong moves to basket for the home side as Wolves appeared to lose their momentum.

Once again though, inspired by three three-pointers from Harper, the Worcester side came back at the Manchester outfit.

With one minute remaining the Wolves trailed by two points yet had possession of the ball. Significantly they failed to execute a rehearsed out of bounds play and Magic responded by scoring on the break to conclude an exciting cup tie and bring Wolves' season to an end.

Wolves director Mick Donovan said: "It was a great game for the supporters and although we showed a lot of determination, it was always going to be difficult drawn away in the play-offs.

"We have to look at previous performances when we under-achieved and consequently missed out on the advantages that a top-four finish and a home tie brings.

"This has been a transitional season and the aim was to restructure the coaching and the playing style.

"The confirmation of our progress came back in February when we secured one of the four major pieces of silverware on offer.

"We now have a busy summer reflecting and actively strengthening our program with the aim of even more success next year."