WORCESTER Wolves pulled off a tremendous 87-84 win when they took on Sheffield Arrows in the National Cup first round.

Both teams went into the game unbeaten so far this season. Significantly, Sheffield's victories have been recorded in a higher league.

The game opened with Colin Chiverton and Ty Shaw penetrating the Sheffield defence with some neat inside moves against the giant Americans - White and Hughes.

Josh Cooprider and Rick Solvason enjoyed success from three-point range. However, as the home team raced into a 21-15 first quarter lead a big concern for the Wolves was the three fouls that had been collected by Shaw and the influential American had to withdraw to the bench as Dean Blake came on as a replacement.

The second quarter saw the Wolves focus more on creating chances for their shooting guards. Wayne Robinson, Dave Jones and Josh Cooprider responded with some fine shooting yet Chiverton continued to score close to basket.

The main threat from Sheffield came in the form of player/coach Garnett Gayle and Wolves coach Jimmy Smith sent on Colin Rhooms to contain the Sheffield player.

The Wolves reversed the Sheffield lead and went into the interval with a 38-36 lead. Rhooms had to take a great deal of credit for the Worcester comeback.

The third quarter saw both teams play their worst basketball offensively. While Shaw still watched from the sidelines for the Wolves, Cooprider and Jones continued to shoot well to keep the visitors in contention.

Going in the final phase of the game, the score was tied at 59-59.

Throughout the final phase, the level of play rose from both teams with Sheffield struggling to contain the shooting threat from Solvason and Cooprider. Solvason was fouled shooting 3 pointers on three occasions and the Wolves star kept his nerve to score 80% of his foul shots.

It was Cooprider, who had shot well throughout the evening, who had the final say. The scores were locked at 84-84 with 20 seconds remaining. The young American kept possession for 16 seconds and then shot a long range three-point attempt to clinch victory.