GIANTS CRY WOLF!

pic: jack hinds

MANCHESTER GIANTS   75   -   88    WORCESTER  WOLVES

Last Friday night saw all the recent good work of the Manchester Giants come crashing down in front of a near full house at the Wright Robinson Sports College, As the Worcester Wolves put on a clinic of how to play defense & offense as they beat the Hometown team 88 - 75.


The early stages were looking like the game would be very close as the Giants led 13-6 as they were carrying on their great form they had been on in recent weeks. The Giants recent signing GB international Nick George was making some good plays for the home side as they looked to get out to a bit of a lead.

Worcester however wasn`t playing ball and they forced their way back into the game with some defensive lapses in the Giants defense as the Wolves were getting the rebounds and the men in Green & Purple weren`t rebounding as hard or wanting it more as in previous games it looked. As the Wolves were getting easy rebounds.

The Wolves were starting to make shots as they were making more space for themselves and pulling the their opponents out of position with good team play and screening. Their main threats in the side starting to step up a bit as Alex Owumi hit a 3 pointer to put the Wolves ahead after Callum Jones missed both his free throw attempts and with the giants having the last possession of the 1st quarter missed giving the visitors a 3 point lead at the end of the quarter.


Stefan Gill was starting to catch fire as he kept the home side ticking with three 3 pointers in a row as the Wolves were unable to stop him. But luckily for them they had 2 other players that stepped up for their side in Stanley Ocitti  & Lithuanian Arnas Kazlauskas , As both were were hitting baskets for fun as the Giants backed off and let the Worcester Wolves take over.


Manchester were making shots just not get the luck for them to go in as one seemed to go in then spin out which summed up their luck in front of the basket. The home side were huffing and puffing at the Wolves basket, but either they couldn`t find the net or the defense was stronger and struggled to beat them. As the half time horn sounded it was a 13 point lead for the Wolves and would need the home side to up their game if they wanted to over turn the deficit , as they go into the locker room with the score of 46-34 to the away side.

pic: jack hinds

Second half of the game started and saw the Wolves carrying on from where they were hitting the big baskets and breaking away for easy baskets. The home side launched a comeback as they had Worcester looking over their shoulders as the score was being pulled back, Yet once again the Giants ran into foul trouble as the visitors drew fouls off the home side.
But also there was many times that the Giants were fouled but was rarely called a foul which led to frustration amongst the fans & players.


Stefan Gill was one incident that wasn`t called when he put a shot up was tripped blatantly by a Wolves player got the basket but no foul came, Then they went up the other end and George ran up behind knocked the ball out of the Worcester play as he smack it out his hands and off the backboard but was called as a foul. Which had all connected with the Giants furious with the decision and the 2 free throws made. George himself had a foul drawn and it started to get a bit heated on the court as the frustration was clearly getting to the Giants now.


Manchester was making basic errors and was forgetting about defending & was going back to the old ways of not blocking and letting them shot the ball as the score ballooned at the end of the 3rd quarter with 72-46 in favour of the away side.

The Giants in the 4th tried to claw their way as they started to get the score moving but it was always going to be in a losing battle as the 2nd & 3rd quarter had killed off the Giants chances to be honest.


So as the seconds counted down the home side and crowd was silenced by a great team display by the Wolves.



Top Scorers:Manchester Giants – Nick George 18, Stefan Gill 12, Mike Bernard / Ben Eaves / David Watts 11
Worcester Wolves – Alex Owumi 20, Stanley Ocitti 20, Arnas Kazlauskas 15