Wolves make it three out of three in 2012

Worcester Wolves welcomed the Cheshire Jets for the first encounter between the two this season on Saturday night.

Starting fives:

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

Jets: Brown, Page, Cole, Schneck and Briglia.

Baskets were traded early in this one with Gordon making another strong start. Cole was left in the open for an effortless three but then Fernandez repaid the favour with all the time in the world from the perimeter. Wolves were just edging things early on, coming up bigger in defence and forcing turnovers.

Fernandez found Prezzie-Blue behind the arc and he drained one from distance to give Wolves a 15-10 lead after five.

It had been a real team effort for Wolves up to this point and that was how the game was to continue with everyone making a contribution. The five on the hardwood had particularly worked hard for each other in defence with Kaslauskas upsetting the Jets’ rythym. Richie Gordon rose for a superb take off the glass and passed the ball behind him to Tommy Freeman; noticing Gordon had been left unmarked under the basket by Cheshire, Freeman gave it back to him for an easy two.

Unusually the Jets starting five stayed on unchanged for the whole of the first ten, and as Wolves changed personnel the Cheshire side began to make inroads. But Wolves, always capable, hit back through a trademark Watts three which contributed to a scoreline at the end of the first of 24-16 to the home side.

Wolves came out in the second and started dictating the tempo through their point guard Prezzie-Blue and took the game out to a 12 point lead. Watts had a warm spell hitting a three after a cross court ball from Freeman and scoring inside. Cheshire were coming up short in possession before Freeman added his own three and completed a 10-0 run for Worcester.

Understandably Coach Lavery was concerned and called a timeout to stop the flow of the home side. A devastating spell had taken the score to 34-16 Wolves.

Just after the timeout Schneck went down on his ankle and all fans watched on concerned as he left the court. Brandreth was introduced by the visitors.

Wolves continued to play great D with Briglia finding the guard on him unpenetrable. Two scores for the Jets and a first basket of the night from Zimnickas were followed by a coast to coast play by the lively and instrumental Fernandez. The small forward also drew the foul as he scored the impressive two and took the ‘and one’ for a three point play the home crowd really enjoyed.

The score stood at 41-20 to Wolves with just over five left in the half. Schneck thankfully was okay and returned to the action.

Something the Wolves have needed to tighten up on all season rasied its head again as they gave the Jets too many chances in possession and Briglia was able to register his own three point play after being fouled at the basket.The Jets looked to have more purpose as Brown tried to get hold of the game; as Gordon missed a dunk, Briglia added to his tally at the other end. A timeout was called with the Jets within 14 and 3:31 left in the half.

The Cheshire spell didn’t last long however as Worcester put their foot down again. A great assist from Freeman let Prezzie-Blue in for a deuce and Fernandez forced a turnover to put Prezzie-Blue in the open. The point guard unselfishly handed it off to Watts who gratefully took the two. Fernandez is turning in to a key man for the Wolves getting about teams in defence and making it hard for the opposition to guard him with his foot speed and quick hands.

With a two at the buzzer from Prezzie-Blue the home side led 50-35.

Briglia led the scorers at the half with 14 points and for Wolves that real team effort was reflected in the stats as Fernandez, Tin-Tin Watts and Prezzie-Blue all had ten to their names.

Wolves came out with their starting five minus Richie Gordon who was replaced by Zimnickas. Gordon had not seen many minutes and Coach James was possibly using the opportunity to give Zimnickas some valuable court time.

Bizarrely as we got underway, it seemed that Adam Brown leant down to pick up two of his teeth off the hardwood. Freeman looked on with his hand on his own mouth as Prezzie-Blue also exclaimed his surprise.

Back to the action it was Fernandez again doing the damage as he charged through the Cheshire defence to help himself to another bucket.

There was a slight lul in the game though at this point, which may have been due to the comfortable lead or the shock of Brown’s injury, but Freeman nailed three to get everyone back involved. Brown never left the court and continued to play through the pain.

Schneck drew the foul to take two and took himself to ten for the night. But Wolves continued to hurt the visitors from outside as they have all comers and Freeman and Kaslauskas shared a high-five after a three from the Lithuanian. When Freeman stole the ball and fed Zimnickas for another deuce, Lavery called a timeout. The Wolves had been taking the ball off Cheshire in possession all game and held a twenty point lead at 60-40.

Freeman helped himself to another 20 footer and took his own personal points tally to 14, whlst Adam Brown showed no ill effects as he replied in kind from behind the arc. Gordon was still warming the bench but he was introduced shortly after with the Wolves very much still in the ascendancy with a 14 point lead.

The home side then tried to run the clock down in possession and run some plays as a nice screen from Freeman allowed Prezzie-Blue to the perimeter and he took the opportunity for three. The point guard dictated the game, and he kept his composure throughout what was on occassion a scrappy affair as the game wore on.

The freedom of the lead had led to a drop in concentration from Worcester at times, but it also gave Wolves an opportunity to be more expressive as the game got stretched. Kaslauskas rescued the ball in the corner and managed to get it back towards the halfway line, Prezzie-Blue expertly took it out of the air and fired in the alley-oop for Gordon to take the two. This got the crowd excited again in a stop start third with little flow as the Jets tried to get back in to the game any way they could.

With ten left it was 70-54 to the hosts.

The fourth saw the away side get closer but further long range scores from Freeman and Fernandez back involved and picking up the pieces meant the Jets fighting was only ever going to be in vain.

In fact both sides added 11 points each as they went toe to toe and the game stood at 81-65. That pattern continued as Wolves took it out slightly to a 16 point lead with Freeman finding himself in the paint more and Gordon given license to roam in and around the key. Wolves began to use the clock as they saw this one out. Ever the perfectionist Freeman was annoyed with himself for missing a three when open.

Prezzie-Blue went coast to coast with Brown in close attention but he expertly took the two and drew the foul. The point guard made sure of the three point play with nothing but net from the charity stripe.

A full court press from Cheshire put pressure on Wolves as they looked to move the ball out of the back court and Kaslauskas was guilty of sloppy play. The big forward made up for it though with a three on the next possession taking his total to 14 points. This one was in the books with 1.22 left and a lead of 12 for the hosts. Gordon finished things off showing he could get it done from outside also as he drained one from 18 feet.

97-87 was the score at the buzzer and Wolves maintained their 100 per cent record in 2012.

Wolves: Prezzie-Blue 24, Freeman 19, Kaslauskas 14, Fernandez 14.

Jets: Schneck 24, Brown 19, Cole 19.