Sheffield Sharks 74 Worcester Wolves 73 (From Worcester News)

Sheffield Sharks 74 Worcester Wolves 73

5:58pm Sunday 29th January 2012 in Reports

IT was a night of déjà vu for Worcester Wolves as they slipped to defeat at Sheffield Sharks.

They mirrored their one-point loss in the last visit to the same venue in November.

On that occasion, Sharks fought back from a large deficit to eventually triumph, whereas this time it was Wolves who were heavily in arrears before almost pulling off the victory.

Richie Gordon opened the scoring for the visitors but this was to be the only time his side led until the closing seconds of the contest.

Early baskets from young English guard Zach Gachette, standing in for the injured Nate Reinking, and his back-court partner Jimmy Langhurst moved the hosts into a comfortable 25-13 first-quarter advantage.

At three minutes into the second period, with Wolves trailing 32-19, Gordon picked up his third foul, forcing him to the bench.

A few moments later, the man Gordon replaced in the centre position at Worcester, Justin Dobbins, was called for his third offence when carelessly swiping at a three-point attempt from Lithuanian forward Arnas Kazlauskas.

As well as sinking the long-range basket, Kazlauskas made the bonus foul shot, reducing the deficit to 40-32.

An exchange of scores put the scores at 42-34 when Wolves coach Paul James called a time-out with 28 seconds of the half remaining.

Another score from distance by Kazlauskas further closed the gap to 42-37.

The second-half began with a Gordon tap-in and a block of a Dobbins shot.

As the quarter wound down, the battle of the big men continued but was interrupted when another Gordon block was judged illegal by referee Neil Wilkinson.

With Gordon once more off-court, Dobbins was left with space to sink three consecutive baskets to widen Sharks’ advantage.

The first five points of the final period pulled Wolves to within a point at 58-57 but several scores from the quietly-efficient Gachette once more established a cushion for Sharks.

At 68-63 and with two minutes of the contest remaining, Sheffield player-coach Atiba Lyons was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul when blocking the path of the oncoming Gordon.

One free throw was converted and one missed but Wolves point-guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue was able to score a moment later to bring his side to within two points at 68-66.

With just 21 seconds to go, a Tommy Freeman basket finally edged the Wolves ahead at 73-72.

However, Langhurst quickly replied for the Sharks, prompting a Worcester time-out with seven seconds left to save the game.

As Sheffield defenders swarmed around Kazlauskas, he was forced into an ungainly shot that went wide.

At the final buzzer, furious head coach Paul James remonstrated with the refereeing crew that his player had been impeded, but to no avail.