WORCESTER Wolves returned to winning ways in the British Basketball League with an impressive 66-58 triumph at Durham Wildcats.

Wolves put the previous week's 89-75 defeat Cheshire Phoenix behind them as they kept hold of second place in the table.

Robert Thurman dominated the statistics with 18 points and 15 rebounds, having already accumulated a double-double by the interval. Captain Alex Owumi and Paul Guede chipped in with 15 and 11 points respectively.

However, with leaders Newcastle Eagles winning twice over the weekend - against Leicester Riders and the Wildcats - they are very much in the driving seat having now opened up a four-point gap with a game in hand.

Wolves' latest match remained poised until half-time, after which the hosts went scoreless for nearly seven minutes, building a 53-40 cushion and, from then, keeping the Wildcats at bay.

Head coach Paul James said: “It was a good win. Today we executed our game-plan.

"We focused on our defence. We achieved all the things we talked about during the week, being aggressive on the boards and not giving them any time to line up their shots.

"Individually, Robert did very well – he had an opportunity to go to work on them and that’s just what he did.

After the opening five minutes, Worcester had raced to an 11-4 lead. Durham’s Croatian forward Fran Urli pulled back four points before rattling home a quick double of outside scores to edged his side ahead at 14-13. The hosts still held a single-point advantage at 20-19 as the first quarter ended.

Wolves’ energetic young guard Disraeli Lufadeju then pounced on a Durham turnover to sink a three-pointer before a double of baskets from Thurman and another for Lufadeju moved Worcester back in front at 30-25.

Durham had closed the gap at half-time to 39-38 but Wolves made a good start to the third quarter with scores from Thurman and Kalil Irving.

At the other end there was a proverbial lid over the Wolves’ basket with the formerly-accurate Urli misfiring badly on several occasions, as did his colleague Ralph Bucci.

There was even a dispute over the score that finally broke Durham’s drought when Joel Madourie’s rejected shot was signalled good due to goaltending. Thurman eventually took a seat in the last quarter to allow Dejan Radojevic to notch his first points. Wildcats continued to be harassed into turnovers or rushed shots, failing to put a dent into Wolves’ lead.