HEAD coach Paul James hopes guard Elvis Dusha can be the “catalyst” for transforming Worcester Wolves’ fortunes in the British Basketball League.

Dusha has returned to full fitness and James expects him to play an influential role for third-from-bottom Wolves at Surrey Scorchers today (2pm).

After missing three games due to a hand injury, Dusha came off the bench to steer Worcester to a 97-86 victory over Manchester Giants at the Trafford Sportsdome.

It was only Wolves’ second league win of the campaign and James believes the Albanian’s comeback could make a big difference to his team.

“I did not intent to play Elvisi last Sunday,” James said.

“But things weren’t going as I would have hoped in the first quarter of that game against Manchester.

“I threw him in there to shake things up a bit and he did a very good job at steadying the ship as he got us into our sets and organised the team.

“I was really pleased with what he gave the team and he was the catalyst for moving us forward and winning the game.

“He is ready for today’s game and just needs to do what the coaches are after.

“We needs to control the tempo of the game and get the ball to the right people at the right time where they can be most effective.

“He did very that well against Manchester and hopefully he can do that at Surrey.”

He added: “Preparations have gone well. There were things we needed to address and hopefully we have done that this week, especially given the fact that we now have got Dusha back which helps.

“But we will still have to manage players with the minutes they get to keep them as fresh as possible during the game.”

Scorchers have had an indifferent start to the campaign having lost five and won five to leave them in mid-table.

But they beat Wolves 84-80 in their last meeting at the Surrey Sports Park in mid-October.

“Surrey are a tough and very physical team,” James said.

“It is going to be a very draining game, so we have got to go there and start better than we did last time we played them.

“We dug ourselves a big hole before we started to play so we need to play for 40 minutes and be right on it from the beginning.

“If we can do and execute well then we will give ourselves a chance of winning the game, but we certainly need to be very disciplined offensively and defensively.”

Asked whether he was any closer to replacing Jermel Kennedy, James replied: “We are still looking to find a suitable player to come in.”