WORCESTER Wolves advanced to the British Basketball League Cup quarter-finals with a routine victory over Manchester Giants at the University Arena.

Having already accumulated an unassailable 24-point advantage by half-time against outclassed opponents, there was plenty of opportunity for coach Paul James to give court time to all members of his squad.

A laboured start from the hosts allowed the Giants to nudge into a 9-4 lead after four minutes of the match, but that was to be the only time that the visitors posed a serious threat.

A three-pointer from Wolves’ Alex Owumi sparked his side into action before point guard Zaire Taylor weaved his way through slower opponents to provide an assist for team-mate Stefan Djukic to lay in to level.

Wolves centre Will Creekmore then sank a triple, while Owumi did likewise.

New signing Andreas Schreiber was fouled in the act of shooting and subsequently opened his Worcester account with a couple of free throws to put the hosts 17-9 up.

Giants’ scoreless period was finally ended by a long-range effort from former Wolves favourite David Watts with three minutes of the quarter remaining.

The second quarter began with little-used Wolves forward Daniel Belgrave converting a neat pass from Schreiber to take the score to 26-16.

It was a full five minutes later, after Belgrave had once more made a basket, before Giants guard James Jones would end a tortuous barren spell for his team, leaving the score 36-18.

A score from Manchester-born veteran Yorick Williams prompted a Worcester time-out with two minutes left in the half with the score standing at 44-30, but from there until the interval the Giants were again scoreless.

A double of long-range baskets from Owumi rounded off a highly-impressive tally of six from six from outside the arc for the Worcester guard.

His only miss of the half came as time expired, but even then Creekmore was on hand to tip in the ball and secure a comfortable 54-30 home advantage.

There was a brief third-quarter revival for the visitors on the back of accurate outside shooting, but closer to the basket they had little answer to the bustling inside play of Creekmore and Schreiber.

Creekmore made a perfect seven from seven free throws to keep the Giants at arm’s length at 69-49.

In the last 10 minutes, the Wolves sauntered to an inevitable victory, giving more of their bench players a chance to impress.

Harry Turner joined the three-point scoring fest with his first touch of the game, and repeated the act in the final minute of the contest.