Everton Tigers 67 Worcester Wolves 76 (From Worcester News)

Everton Tigers 67 Worcester Wolves 76

5:43pm Monday 8th February 2010 in

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WORCESTER Wolves completed a winning weekend by triumphing 76-67 at high-flying Everton Tigers.

Paul James’ men had edged past struggling Plymouth Raiders in the British Basketball League on Saturday.

Once the opening minutes had passed at Everton, Worcester held the lead throughout.

However, they could never relax as Tigers fought feverishly to entertain a large Echo Arena crowd.

Wolves set out their stall early, restricting the hosts in a first quarter that finished 18-12 and barely easing the defensive pressure to end the first-half 31-28 ahead.

Everton’s often-dominant Great Britain centre Dzaflo Larkai was harried into committing a third foul and had to spend time on the bench.

By contrast, Worcester coach James cleverly rotated his own big men to avoid significant foul trouble.

As the second-half opened, consecutive baskets from classy Wolves guard Rod Middleton and battling centre Harry Disy contributed to a 45-33 advantage mid-way through the third quarter.

However, when Everton forward Olu Babalola began to sink shots close to the hoop, along with accurate outside shooting from former Wolves player Adam Williams, the gap decreased.

As the quarter ended, referee Simon Unsworth called a technical foul on coach James for protesting his decision to disallow a Kastytis Normantas effort, meaning that the last period began at 55-50.

From here, the teams traded scores until Wolves held only a slender lead at 69-67 with just under a minute of the contest remaining.

As Middleton drove to the basket through heavy traffic, his shot bounced around the rim but was superbly put back in by a hustling Normantas, leaving Wolves 71-67 ahead with 22 seconds to go.

When Everton coach Tony Garboletto picked up a technical foul for arguing, the game was effectively over, ending in a succession of Worcester free-throws to round off an extremely impressive performance.

Leading scorers for the visitors were Middleton with 21 points and Normantas with 12. Babalola led the way for Everton with 19.