WORCESTER Wolves opened their British League Trophy campaign against Guildford Heat with a 93-87 victory.

In a game that the Wolves trailed for long periods at the University of Worcester, it needed over-time for Paul James’ side to emerge victorious.

Summer signing Richie Gordon did himself and his team no favours by picking up two fouls in the first minute of the game and having to be replaced by Arnas Kazlauskas.

Shaky defence allowed Guildford’s England forward Michael Martin to score at will during a first quarter that saw Wolves trail 24-17.

Gordon marked his return to the court early in the second quarter with an emphatic dunk as the hosts reduced their arrears to 28-25.

Tommy Freeman began to show his prowess from long range and by the interval, the sides were tied at 40-40.

With Gordon called for another offence midway through the third period, once more causing a re-shuffle of personnel, Heat took charge When Worcester head coach James was awarded a technical foul for disputing a referee’s call, his side trailed 62-52.

However, a 9-3 run helped reduce the deficit entering the last quarter.

With just three minutes remaining, Freeman coolly weaved his way through the Heat defenders and passed to David Watts.

Watts was fouled making the score and converted the subsequent free throw to give Wolves their first advantage at 80-77.

At 82-82, the match went into five minutes of over-time.

Two free throws from Freeman opened the scoring, and from there Wolves held an advantage that they would not relinquish.

Freeman and Sherrad Prezzie-Blue were the leading Wolves scorers with 29 and 20 points respectively.

Tayo Ogedegebe netted 22 points for the Heat.