Worcester Wolves travelled to play Coventry Crusaders for the first game in their Patrons Cup Challenge and returned home with a 101-95 victory.

Coventry fielded a strong team that included former French international Derek Pope and the exciting American combination of Richards and Graves.

Wolves gave Dean Blake his first outing and Colin Rhooms also returned from injury.

The game started at a blistering pace with Wolves in scintillating shooting form. Josh Cooprider hit two three-pointers while Wayne Robinson, Dave Jones and Ty Shaw also scored three-point attempts as a shell-shocked Coventry trailed 34-19 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Pope began to find his range but Shaw and Colin Chiverton continued to find gaps. Jones added to Wolves tally with a very long three-point attempt.

The first half closed with the visitors leading 54-41.

The second half saw a revitalised Coventry reduce the deficit in the opening seven minutes.

Wolves struggled to score against the Crusaders zone defence and as the third quarter ended Wolves lead had been drastically reduced to 71-67.

The home crowd sensed the comeback from the Crusaders, but one of their former heroes Rick Solvason had other ideas. The Wolves leader entered the game and scored an amazing 16 points in a five minute spell. This tally included four three-point attempts in succession.

Coventry came back at Wolves again but Shaw and Chiverton were relentless in their offensive and defensive play.

As in the previous week, Chiverton silenced the home crowd with a power play that saw him slam dunk with four Coventry players trying to hold the youngster down.

Scorers: Chiverton 26, Shaw 22, Solvason 17, Cooprider 16, Robinson 11, Jones 9, Sommerville 2 and Blake 1.

The top rebounds for the Wolves were Shaw with 14 and Chiverton 12.

Worcester Wolves women recorded their first National League victory with an impressive 65-48 win against Leicester. Corinne Stone was the main scorer for the Wolves in a good all round team performance.