Raiders claim cup final place

The Plymouth Raiders will go head to head with Newcastle Eagles in January’s showpiece cup final despite an 89-82 loss to Worcester Wolves in the 2nd leg of their semi final on Sunday.

The home side led the contest by 28 points after they played the first leg the previous day. They continued from where they left off, opening the scoring with a 10-3 burst. But the Wolves clawed their way into the game, finishing strong to keep their opponents in sight at 19-16 after the first period.

The Wolves changed pace in the second quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 24 and level the playing field. Both teams battled basket for basket as they finished the half all square at 39 a piece.

In the second half, the Wolves maintained control of the lead with a 10-2 streak to take the score to 49-41. The visitors maintained advantage for the remainder of the quarter but a Jeremy Bell score and a pair of free throws from Michael Ojo cut the lead to 58-55 heading into the final stanza.

In the final quarter, the Wolves tried desperately to overturn the full deficit from the first leg but they could not open a lead of more than eight points in the final period as the Raiders saw off the challenge to progress into the Cup Final in the New Year.

The leading scorers for the game were Ojo with 23 for the Raiders but Ritchie Gordon topped the leader board with 34.