WORCESTER Wolves' British Basketball League title hopes suffered a major blow as they fell to their heaviest loss of the season at Cheshire Phoenix.

Yesterday's 89-75 defeat was Wolves' fifth in 24 league matches and first in the competition since December 19.

Although Paul James' side are still second in the table and trail Newcastle Eagles by two points, the leaders have two games in hand.

It also means Leicester Riders and Cheshire are snapping at their heels in third and fourth place respectively.

Cheshire also now have the head-to-head record over Worcester after winning 97-86 at the same venue in December.

The match remained poised until a disastrous barren spell for the visitors bridging the third and fourth quarters.

A triple from Jamal Williams edged Wolves 56-55 ahead with five minutes to go in the third period, but it would be a further nine minutes before another Wolves score from the field, by which time Cheshire, who won all four quarters, had strolled into the distance.

Demond Watt hit 25 points for the hosts, with Dustin Salisbery and Taylor King registered 23 and 22 respectively. For Wolves, Robert Thurman and Williams tallied 14 points apiece.

Head coach James said: “Every season you can come up against a team that seems to have your number.

"We again struggled to cope with Cheshire’s speed, size and athleticism. We were doing all right for a while, but then had a long spell where nothing went our way and where Cheshire capitalised.”

The lead see-sawed throughout the first-half. Captain Alex Owumi and Paul Guede both connected with a double of three-pointers in the opening quarter, but Phoenix playmaker Salisbery did likewise.

Another basket for Owumi moved Wolves 24-23 in front as the second period began. A couple of minutes later he was on the spot to swat away a Cheshire shot attempt and set up a three-point success for reserve guard Caylin Raftopoulos.

Raftopoulos floated home a further triple to maximise his side’s advantage at 37-31 four minutes before half-time.

Thurman was forced to the bench on three fouls, leaving fellow big man Dejan Radojevic the task of battling Cheshire’s 7ft 8ins giant Paul Sturgess.

With Thurman back on court after the interval, taking turns with Owumi to move the away side of the scoreboard, the match remained in the balance.

However, a long succession of Wolves shots went awry and it became too late to retrieve matters.