WORCESTER Wolves must be prepared to “go to war” with British Basketball League high-fliers Newcastle Eagles in the city tonight (7.30pm), insists head coach Paul James.

And James is urging his Wolves players to batten down the hatches for the showdown at the University of Worcester Arena.

He believes Worcester have been “soft” and gifted their rivals too many points this term, highlighting last Sunday’s 102-79 defeat at Cheshire Phoenix.

Eighth-placed Wolves will look to inflict only a second defeat of the campaign on second-placed Newcastle, who have former Worcester star Orlan Jackman in their ranks.

“Newcastle have got solid players, started off the season really well and lost only once to London Lions,” said James.

“They are probably going to be a top-four team, so it will be a really tough battle and we have to be ready to go to war with them to get a positive result.”

James is demanding Wolves to be more “stubborn” and “dogged” in their defensive duties to stand a chance of clipping Eagles’ wings.

“We gave up 100 points against Cheshire and that’s just not good enough — that’s not what I expect,” said James.

“There are little things we need to do on our positional play in relation to where the ball is and to start helping each other out a bit more as we did at the start of the season. We need to get back to a situation where everyone is playing for everyone else.”

Wolves have picked up just two wins from their opening six matches with home triumphs against Cheshire Phoenix (88-85) and Surrey Scorchers (90-82).

But Worcester’s home form has been patchy with defeats on their own floor to Sheffield Sharks (78-64) and Glasgow Rocks (94-81).

Captain Marek Klassen scored 26 points and nine assists in last Friday’s success against Surrey and James says Wolves are confident in their own attack.

James said: “We have got enough players to score 80 or more points in a match so I would be happy if we could limit the amount we conceded to mid-to-high 70s.

“Once you get up into the high 80s, 90s and 100s, the whole thing becomes a lottery and neither team is likely to be playing defensively.

“We have to be a bit more stubborn and dogged at the defensive end and more mean in not giving away some of the points. Some of the points conceded have been soft and we need to make teams work for every point they get.”

While Wolves made wholesale changes in the summer, retaining only one player, Newcastle kept the nucleus of their squad together and are reaping the rewards.

“Newcastle are like a machine and just keep moving forward,” said James.

“W know all about Orlan. He is one of those guys who can have an amazing game every so often and works hard for the team.

“If he’s on song, he’s very tough to stop. Whatever happens, he is going to be giving his all.

“Orlan had an outstanding game last weekend and I am sure he will be looking forward to coming back to Worcester and playing in front of our crowd.”

Wolves are also in action on Sunday at struggling Manchester Giants in the league (5pm).