Raiders hold slender advantage over Worcester
PLYMOUTH Raiders head coach Paul James hailed the character of his side as they fought back to claim a narrow first leg lead in the BBL Championship quarter-final matchup with Worcester Wolves to win 84-82, writes Jack Guthrie.
Raiders overcame a dreadful start to the game when history looked to be repeating itself with James’ side trailing by 16 points after a really poor first quarter.
Their start brought flashbacks to the recent BBL Trophy final, which Raiders lost narrowly, and where the damage was done in a poor first half that left Raiders with far too much to do.
This time, though, spurred on by an outstanding performance form Ryan Beisty, Raiders dug in and ground out a win that gives them a narrow advantage heading into tonight’s second leg in Worcester.
“We weren’t ready to play at the start,” James said. “They [Worcester] obviously did their homework; prepared very well, changed some of their sets and threw everything at us.
“We’ve shown all year long that we’ve got a lot of character in this team. We don’t lie down and we had to fight through a lot of adversity tonight.
“Ryan did an amazing job for us, whenever we’ve put him on the floor, he hasn’t let us down and I thought tonight he had an exceptional game.”
It was indeed an excellent performance form Beisty, who contributed five points, seven assists and seven rebounds to earn him the MVP award.
“It feels good to get the win, but we made it much harder than it should have been,” he said. “I didn’t realise (my stats) but that’s cool!”
It was an incredibly slow start from the Raiders, who allowed the Wolves to stretch to a large, double-digit margin in the first quarter as they struggled to make the net ripple. The second quarter saw a momentum shift that brought Plymouth back into contention with the prospect of a closely fought second half.
The sides didn’t disappoint in creating a spectacle in the final quarters, trading buckets and making some vital defensive stops. The game also became heated as tempers flared between the sides, forcing the referees into dishing out five technical fouls in the process, including two on Raiders’ captain Ashley Hamilton.
Despite his absence in the closing stages, Raiders dug deep and secured the win with some excellent scoring in the final minute of the game to snatch victory, after their defensive play helped them claw back the deficit.
They play the second leg tonight (7.3opm) at Worcester looking to seal their place in the semi-finals.