WORCESTER Wolves secured their first British Basketball League win of the season with a comfortable 92-80 victory over Manchester Giants.

Following on for a spirited showing in losing 81-73 at defending champions Newcastle Eagles on Friday night, Paul James’ side got off the mark at the third time of asking at the University of Worcester .

The Giants came into the game in confident mood after winning their opening two games but were thoroughly out-worked by a Wolves side showing much greater cohesion.

Alex Owumi led the Worcester scorers with 25 points, followed by Stan Ocitti with 15. Lithuanians Arnas Kazlauskas and Arturas Masiulis tallied 13 and 12 respectively, while former Worcester player David Watts top-scored for Manchester with 20 points.

Worcester led 22-16 at the end of the opening period, despite 11 points from the returning Watts.

While still awaiting the arrival of point guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue, Wolves director of basketball James has taken the opportunity to give greater court time to less-experienced colleagues.

Little-seen Daniel Belgrave eagerly grasped his chance when floating home a three-pointer to move the score to 25-16 and repeated the act a few moments later as his side extended their advantage to 31-20.

The Giants had no answer to an onslaught of triples in the quarter from the Wolves.

After delighting in seeing an attempted dunk from Watts clang off the rim, a large Worcester crowd were brought to their feet by consecutive three-point scores from young British forward Stuart Thomson and American Ocitti.

Coming out of the half-time break with a healthy 49-30 lead, there was no let-up in the hosts’ attacks. With Masiulis and Ocitti dominating play close to the basket, exasperated Manchester coach Jeff Jones was forced to call a time-out with his team trailing 64-37 with four minutes of the third quarter remaining.

The Giants reduced the deficit to 70-51 going into the last period before Carlos Fernandez sunk the first of his eight fourth-quarter points.

A technical foul was called on a frustrated Watts for dissent, signalling the Giants final white flag of surrender.