WORCESTER Wolves have the British Basketball League summit in their sights when they face Leicester Riders tonight (7.30).

An outstanding season so far has seen Paul James’ side climb to second in the standings following eight wins from 10 games.

They briefly shared top spot with Newcastle Eagles after triumphing 94-86 on Tyneside earlier this month and could draw level on points again with victory against Riders, although the reigning champions would have a game in hand.

Success over the Eagles, which was quickly followed by a convincing 87-65 defeat of Glasgow Rocks, provided Wolves with momentum and James wants that to continue at the University of Worcester tonight.

The Wolves director of basketball, whose side visit Milton Keynes Lions on Friday, said: “These guys are fit, mentally tough and want to win games. They believe in one another, play hard to the end and find ways to win.

“If we can carry forward the form of last weekend we will go into 2012 top of the league and then we’ll just take things from there.”

James, however, is not about to take Leicester lightly as the fourth-placed East Midlanders, who beat Durham Wildcats 97-64 last time out, arrive with just one defeat from their six league games.

He said: “Riders have a very good team this season and have built on what they had last campaign. They are well coached by Rob Paternostro and play with a lot of energy at both ends of the floor.

“We will be focusing on them as a team. They have too many scoring weapons to focus on any one player.”

Wolves centre Richie Gordon will look to continue the form that earned him a place in the BBL team-of-the-week for the third time this season.

Rookie forward Tommy Freeman is also in fine form after scoring 33 points against Newcastle and 23 in the Rocks’ success.

He said: “We’ve had a lot of success to begin the season but we have to keep playing one game at a time and come to practice ready to focus on getting better. We are excited by the start, but we’re still not satisfied.”