Worcester Wolves 84 Plymouth Raiders 80

​PLYMOUTH Raiders will be hoping to bounce back from last night’s defeat at Worcester Wolves when they entertain Essex Pirates at the Pavilions this afternoon (4pm).

Raiders went down 84-80 at Worcester, who hit 13 three-pointers on the way to victory.

Back-to-back wins for the Wolves keep them in 10th place, with this being only the third time in three years that they have beaten their South Coast rivals, who have now lost five games in a row.

The teams were close during the opening exchanges, until a rapid 8-0 run in less than a minute gave the Wolves a 14-6 lead with Middleton hitting consecutive three-pointers. Valencia halted the run with consecutive scores of his own for the visitors, but they succumbed to a further 7-2 tear, capped by a Normantas triple, to see the lead reach 21-12. But the teams ended the opening ten minutes much closer, at 23-20, after Anthony Martin made two assists and scored a three-pointer in an 8-0 response for Plymouth.

It was a similar pattern in the second as Middleton connected on another pair of treys within the opening 1.15 to help the score out to 33-24. The teams traded baskets before the lead reached double-figures for the first time at 41-31 on Harry Disy.

SEE MONDAY'S HERALD FOR REACTION FROM BOTH WEEKEND MATCHES