Essex Pirates 70 Worcester Wolves 75 (From Worcester News)

Essex Pirates 70 Worcester Wolves 75

7:00pm Sunday 14th February 2010 in

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Worcester Wolves closed the gap on the top eight with a win on the road at Essex Pirates.

The Wolves had to work hard for their third win in a row though as a seemingly comfortable fourth quarter lead was cut back to just two before a 5-2 run over the final 18 seconds clinched the points.

Danny Gilbert was the main contributor for Wolves with 26 points while Rod Middleton weighed in with 18. Tanner Adu led Pirates scoring on 18.

An uninspiring first quarter where neither team made a basket over the opening five minutes of play ended 11-12 in Wolves’ favour thanks to a Gilbert three on the buzzer.

Pirates fell 17-23 down before an 8-2 run levelled the match and a 5-0 close to the half gave them a 30-28 interval advantage. Four successive threes by Wolves in the third quarter helped the visitors to lead 48-50 heading into the final stanza.

When Worcester had put together a 10-2 run to take the score to 50-60 and then to their biggest lead of the night at 54-65 it looked like a comeback was beyond Pirates.

A 9-2 burst brought Essex within two (68-70) with 18 seconds on the clock, but a foul sent Wolves to the line where Middleton and Gilbert kept their cool to keep Worcester in touch with the play-off positions.

Essex Pirates: Adu 18, Rodrigo 17, Mumuni 14. Worcester Wolves: Gilbert 26, Middleton 18, Normantas 9.