WORCESTER Wolves' fell to an agonising overtime defeat on Friday night as visitors Bristol Hurricanes secured a dramatic victory at the University of Worcester Arena.

Wolves had faced a double-digit deficit going into the second-half but managed to drag themselves level and briefly into the led late on in the fourth quarter, but Bristol scored in the final seconds to force the overtime period.

And it was the Hurricanes who came out on top in the end to send the big crowd home disappointed.

"We showed character to come back into the match," said head coach Dean Blake. "We gave a good
account of ourselves in not giving up, although we didn’t quite have that little bit of composure at critical moments to complete the job.

"I felt Bristol were there for the taking. Nevertheless, we learned a lot about ourselves today and now need to take that knowledge forward."

Hurricanes’ lively guard Romain Neufville slotted in a quick eight points to push his side into an early 11-6 lead but was then dispossessed at half-court by Humberto Ferreira, allowing an easy layup for Jacob Dearman.

More turnovers soon followed and when Bristol failed to inbound the ball correctly Dearman sank a three-pointer to give Wolves their first advantage of the evening at 15-13 with three minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

Playmaker Peter Palmer bounced into the action with a swift trio of scores to maintain a 30-29 edge for the hosts at midway through the second period.

By half-time, it was Bristol’s turn to hold sway at 43-39. With Neufville again leading the way and ex-BBL veteran Daniel Edozie showing his class, the visitors accelerated into a commanding 65-47 lead.

Zak Riabi came to the fore with consecutive triples, restricting Hurricanes advantage to 67-57 entering the last quarter.

The scoreboard ticked onwards to 72-57 before Worcester drew a line in the sand as Emmanuel Yeboah now took over the scoring spotlight.

Bristol twice committed unsportsmanlike fouls as they struggled to prevent Ferreira from thrusting to the basket. When Yeboah froze defenders to hand off to Ferreira Wolves were finally back in front at 77-76 with just over a minute to go.

A pair of Yeboah free throws put matters to 79-77 with just 12 seconds remaining and brought over a thousand spectators to their feet before the wily Edozie replied to force overtime and deflate the atmosphere.

The visitors carried their uplift into grabbing the opening seven points when play restarted. More Riabi three-pointers gave brief hope for the hosts but were insufficient to overturn proceedings.