WORCESTER Wolves will head to Wembley Arena on Sunday for the British Basketball League play-off final after seeing off Sheffield Sharks in a pulsating clash at the University Arena.
Leading by 20 points following Friday’s semi-final first-leg 79-59 victory in South Yorkshire, Wolves finished the job last night to set up a showdown against BBL champions Newcastle Eagles.
But they did it the hard way in front of a packed crowd, hitting back from 15 points down on the night to prevail in emphatic fashion at 67-60 and complete a remarkable 27-point aggregate triumph.
Reaching their first play-off final is the latest chapter in a historic season for Paul James’ side who have already won the BBL Trophy and finished third in the league.
Standing in the way of a second piece of silverware is an Eagles team who overturned an 11-point first-leg deficit to beat Leicester Riders by one on aggregate following overtime.
Wolves saw their first-leg advantage slashed to 10 points and the visitors held a 20-15 lead heading into the second quarter.
Chances went begging and Sharks stretched their lead to 37-22. But a three-pointer from Alex Owumi and Zaire Taylor’s lay-up saw Wolves trail 39-31 at half-time.
The hosts remained eight points adrift 53-45 at the end of the third quarter but grew in stature during a tetchy final period and Owumi’s triple tied matters at 53-53.
From there, Wolves, and player-of-the-season Taylor in particular, turned on the style and swept to victory.
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