Strength in depth is key to Wolves win

BBL Championship – Saturday 18th February 2012
Worcester Wolves 94 Milton Keynes Lions 86

A season’s best performance and an influential 4th quarter from Carlos Fernandez helped Worcester to a hard fought win on campus. On a night when both sides came up short from 20 feet, another team effort from the Wolves saw off the Lions and their go to man Demarius Bolds.

Starting fives:

Worcester: Prezzie-Blue, Freeman, Fernandez, Gordon and Kaslauskas.

Milton Keynes: Josey, Crawford, Pedroso, Bolds and Northern.

Wolves were wary of the almost unguardable Bolds early on and Freeman was called for the foul in the opening passages of play as Bolds ran at the Worcester defence. That paved the way for a simple basket for Bolds shortly after as he was let through by two players with neither wanting to get caught again as he made his way to the net.

Kaslauskas and Freeman both missed early tilts for three, but with a hand in his face Worcester’s point guard got nothing but net from behind the arc. Worcester began the game strong under their own basket and were converting well from inside the key. The Lions had a high turnover count against them in the first few exchanges with the home side stealing the ball away from them on two successive possessions. A further failed MK possession followed resulting in a coast to coast play from Fernandez and an 8 point lead for the hosts at 16-8.

The refs were all over the rulebook but whether they were interpreting things correctly was open to debate.

Bolds as ever the man with the ball for MK continued to build his points total as Stefan Gill was introduced by Coach New. Wolves contiuned to break up MK ball however, and Freeman took his first visit to the line as he drew the foul. Continuing his 100 per cent record in the last two games, Freeman took two and Wolves had a 9 point lead. The former Bobcat didn’t have to wait long for his next visit as he charged down the lane on Wolves next possession and after taking the two was given the chance of a three point play – which he gratefully accepted. It was still not happening for him from distance though as his next long range effort came back off the iron.

In the second part of the first quarter Worcester’s defence were working well and the Lions were struggling to find a way through. The visitors were losing touch with the hosts who built up a 12 point margin by the end of the ten.

Wolves looked disjointed at the start of the second, were unable to dictate the game and lacked composure. Gordon and Prezzie-Blue had been taking the quickest of breathers and were reintroduced to try to get control of the game back as MK started to eat in to the lead. Freeman tried again from distance and saw another roll around the rim and exit. In no time at all the Lions had made it just a six point game and Bolds made that just three with the next two plays and his ninth point of the contest. Coach James called a time out to get back to the game plan.

They came out of the huddle and Freeman got his second personal which he was clearly unhappy with and Bolds levelled the game for MK at 26 points apiece. Worcester’s starting five was reinstated in full. It was clear that the home side needed their point guard to settle them; Freeman was visibly frustrated.

Despite that frustration though he still had his game head on as he found Gordon at the basket for what turned in to a three point play and saw Worcester retake the lead. You got the feeling at this stage that someone was going to foul out as both sides were being called for personals in quick succession due of the erratic nature of the matchup.

With two minute left in the half it was a good time for someone to try and take the momentum and Wolves tried as they put daylight between the sides at four points thanks to another deuce from Gordon. But Northern rolled one in and Kaslauskas got called for his third personal foul as we ended the half level at 36. It is rare that Worcester get dominated in a quarter and this one had seen a 12 point swing to the Lions.

This was a good test for Coach James and his charges. They weren’t getting anything from the perimeter (partially due to good zone defence from MK) but they had gone toe to toe inside and would need to continue to find points in the paint to beat this physical Lions outfit.

Josey was first on to the court in the second half and warrants a mention for his efforts in defence for the visitors in the first twenty.

Worcester’s first possession was textbook as Freeman received the ball at point and nailed one from long range. The home side were making more of the ball and Northern came down hard as he failed to convert for MK but he was fine to play on.

Freeman at the line is always worth a mention and after making everyone wait as he did up his laces, he went 20 from 20 in just over 62 minutes of basketball and had 15 points for the night.

Then we had a strange minute as the refs disagreed with each other on the court. One of them awarded the jump ball and the other the inbound and as neither one budged, one pulled rank and the other shook his head in disbelief. Not something that helped their cause on a night of questionable decisions.

Wolves were just edging the physical contest and a Josey miss from behind the arc was followd by a basket from Richie Gordon and a three point play from Fernandez. Bolds was being closed down well by the home defence in the third ten.

Coach New’s men were unable to keep all Worcester’s shooters off the perimeter as a Prezzie-Blue three gave the home side a margin of six and saw the MK team call a time out. With Wolves converging on Bolds and with Gill and Pedroso quiet the difference between the two sides was that Worcester had more players putting up numbers than MK. While Bolds finished the game with 33, Wolves had four players who scored the same as or more than the Lions second top scorer Daniel Northern. The forward finished with 18 which was matched by Fernandez and surpassed by Freeman (22), Kaslauskas (21) and Gordon (20).

Freeman took yet another two from the line but with the ball in the open in the corner saw the ball come back off the rim again. The hosts were trying to engineer something from three and were trying to control the clock in possession. A late MK basket in the dying seconds of the third saw us go in to the final stanza with just two points in it.

As the fourth settled in to its pattern it was clear there was a give Bolds the ball policy for the final ten minutes. If Worcester could contain him, they could contain the visitors. A Gordon score in close was followed by a chance for Tommy Freeman to take three from the line after being fouled lining one up. Would he take the three? What – you doubted it? It’s not just the line at 20 feet you need to keep him off, it’s the charity stripe too.

A big defensive play by Wolves let in Freeman again this time from open play. Unfortunately for the home side Gordon picked up his fourth personal and had to go sit down. Crawford had his own chance for a three point play and took all the points on offer, but a three from Kaslauskas took the game away from MK again with nine points between them with six left. Great play by Wolves gave the visitors further cause for concern as they ran down the clock, worked Fernandez in to the open and he made no mistake from in close.

With Milton Keynes needing to score they came up short once more and Fernandez on his way to a double double (and three assists off a triple) added two more to his tally. The Spaniard had acres of space as he gave Worcester a 13 point lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

Bolds was still the most likely and added a couple of scores but Pedroso couldn’t do any damage as he tried again from distance. A very different story from the hot hand which put paid to the Wolves on Lions hardwood earlier in the season. Gordon fouled out and couldn’t believe the call. He spent the whole of the subsequent time out stood up in disbelief and questioned the officials at the final buzzer.

Bolds kept coming and with less than two to play we had a five point game. It was for Wolves to use the clock again to their advantage and see this one out.

Freeman went to 26/26 in two games from the free throw line and Gill put up a three. The Lions were applying full court pressure as time was running out and Worcester were able to take advantage of the space. It wasn’t going to be over until the buzzer, but a foul by Gill on Prezzie-Blue gave him the opportunity to make sure the home side had a four point lead with very little time for the Lions to respond. The point guard took both to give them that lead and giving MK around 18 seconds to score twice.

On their first possession an offensive infringement was called against Gill and we were done. Coach James called the time out and Worcester earned a deserved win on a tough night. There was just time for Worcester’s small forward Carlos Fernandez to add another two to his tally on a quick transition, putting the finishing touches to his best game in a Wolves uniform. Final score 94-86 Wolves.