Mersey Tigers 62 Worcester Wolves 91 (From Worcester News)

Mersey Tigers 62 Worcester Wolves 91

7:00pm Sunday 13th November 2011 in Reports

WORCESTER Wolves continued their fine run by overpowering Mersey Tigers in Liverpool.

The win moves Wolves into the BBL Cup semi-finals where they face Plymouth Raiders over two legs in December.

After several weeks break, the visitors were rusty early on.

Several turn-overs and hesitancy in shooting allowed Mersey to take an early 7-1 lead and hold a 19-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Tigers were forced to call a time-out three minutes into the second period after five consecutive points from captain Callum Jones put Wolves 23-19 in front.

A tight first-half ended with Worcester holding a slender 34-31 advantage.

As the third quarter began, veteran forward Arnas Kazlauskas floated home a long-range score.

Four minutes into the half, American forward Tommy Freeman had already scored 10 points, including a double of three-pointers. Wolves were 51-33 ahead and there was no way back for Tigers.

Going into the last period with a comfortable 66-47 cushion, Worcester entertained their travelling fans with several flashy moves.

Sherrad Prezzie-Blue frequently danced through a wilting Mersey defence and Richie Gordon was able to muscle his opponents aside when close to the basket.

Coach Paul James had the luxury of giving more time to his bench players as they eased to a satisfying 91-62 win.

James said: “It was a scrappy first-half with lots of turnovers, but in the end it was a great win. This is the first time the Wolves have got to the cup semi-finals and I’m delighted for the players.”

Gordon led all scorers with 27 points as well as pulling down 15 rebounds.

Prezzie-Blue and Freeman both scored 23.