Sat, 14th Oct: London United top-the-table with road win over Worcester..

Saturday 14th October, 2006

BBL CHAMPIONSHIP

Worcester Wolves 70-76 London United 

QUARTERSCORES:

22-19, 44-46, 57-65, 73-83

GAME TOP SCORERS:

Worcester Wolves (Andy Harper 19, Valdas Urbonavicius 11, Sergio Rodriguez 11) 

London United (Phil Perre 24, Tarick Johnson 17, Marlin Capers 14)

London United's fantastic start to the season continued last Saturday with a 10pt win over fellow BBL newcomers Worcester Wolves. The Hackney-based club are now 3-0, top the BBL Championship and are one of only 2 unbeaten sides in the country.

However, this was a far from vintage performance from United against a combative Worcester side that played to their strengths, stretching the court to create perimeter shooting opportunities. Wolves started with a 3 pointer from Lithuanian Urbonavicius and soon stretched out to an 11-5 lead before a 10pt United rip led by Marcus Knight, Phil Perre and Tarick Johnson redressed the balance. Perkes, Hume-Francis and 5 more from Urbonavicius gave the home side a 22-19 at the end of the quarter. United's effectiveness was limited by the withdrawal of Chris Haslam who picked up 2 quick fouls.

The second quarter saw both sides trading points before Wolves eased to a 7pt lead thanks mainly to Perkes and Andy Harper. Marlin Capers triggered the London response with a triple before Phil Perre added 5pts more. Johnson completed the revival to see United take a 44-46 lead into the break.

Wolves opened the 3rd quarter well and opened up a 5pt gap thanks to a trey from point-guard Matt Collins. The London reply was swift and decisive with a 16pt run with Johnson, Perre, Capers and Bryant Feggins leading the way. Only a 3pointer from Harper on the last play of the quarter kept Worcester in touch as United ended up 57-65.

Wolves closed the gap to just 2pts mid way through the final stanza, as Harper hit another trey to take his personal tally to 17pts. But Harper badly twisted his ankle on landing and limped out to a standing ovation from the home fans. This effectively ended the Wolves challenge with Collins, Rodriguez and Nelson all in foul trouble. Despite this, Wolves managed to keep in touch, but with the Utd lead down to 5pts, Rodriguez missed 4 free-throws. Tarick Johnson rubbed salt into the wounds with a massive 3pts right on the 24sec shot clock buzzer pushing London's lead to 9pts going into the final minute. With Worcester forced to foul to regain possession by sending Utd to the foul-line, Johnson and Perre kept their cool to ease London to a 10pt win.

Once again, Phil Perre top scored with 24pts and 12 rebounds. Tarick Johnson put in another strong performance, along side Marlin Capers with 17 and 14pts respectively. Bryant Feggins proved enormously influential and used all his experience to stop Worcester gaining any significant momentum. His link-up play with Jacek Jagodka (6pts)off the bench was particularly pleasing for coaches Tony Garbelotto and Sam Stiller.

With Sheffield and England Commonwealth Games Coach Pete Scantlebury watching on and The Sharks coming up at SPACe this Saturday, London United know that significant offencive improvements will be needed in what should be the hardest test of the year so far. A gruelling trip to Plymouth in Round 1 of the BBL Cup on Sunday makes this a really big weekend in United's season.

London United: Perre (24), Johnson (17), Capers (11), Feggins (10), Haslam (6), Jagodka (6), Knight (5), Williams (1), Irish, Bernard

Worcester Wolves: Harper (17), Rodriguez (14), Perkes (11) Urbonavicius (11), Noel (8), Collins (5), Potts (4), Hume-Francis (3), Gayle, Nelson

Chris Morris - 16/10/06

Website content copyright of London United Basketball Club, 2006-07. Website design copyright of WebElementary 2006-07