WORCESTER Wolves could not follow up their first-night win in the British Basketball League when going down to a 91-83 defeat at Cheshire Phoenix last night.

After working hard to establish a 46-38 half-time lead, Worcester’s intensity lessened after the interval, leaving director of basketball Ty Shaw forthright in his appraisal.

He said: “We didn’t get back on defence and didn’t get defensive rebounds.

"We let Cheshire get one easy break after another. At certain points out there it looked like a dunk contest.

“But this is part of our learning process. There’s some things that we will definitely change in order to fix things up.”

Wolves began brightly with a 7-0 run and forced former Worcester player Ashton Khan into a double of fumbles on his opening possessions.

Khan recovered to nail a quick 10 points before Robert Crawford continued his long-range shooting prowess from Friday’s 93-81 victory over Plymouth Raiders to sink another three-pointer, aiding Wolves’ 30-25 first-quarter advantage.

A minute into the second period the sides were level at 30-30.

Repeated exchanges of scores kept the scoreboard tied at 38-38 with two minutes remaining in the first half when Adam Thoseby ignited an eight-point unanswered surge.

Spying a clear path to the basket, Thoseby powered forward with a two-handed swinging slam through the hoop.

Dean Wanliss then connected as did Crawford before the former produced another big man move to finalise the burst.

But Wolves’ momentum disappeared when returning to the court for the second half.

By the close of the third quarter they had fallen 64-61 behind.

A few minutes later the deficit had widened to 72-64.

Filip Kramer narrowed the gap by converting a score and a bonus free-throw despite carrying a Cheshire defender on his back.

But Worcester’s failure to show similar vigour at the defensive end allowed Phoenix to score at will and roll to a comfortable win.

Thoseby led the scoring with 23 points.

Kramer posted a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds while Crawford and Jordan Whelan contributed 12 points apiece.

Wolves will be on the road again on Friday at London Lions (7.30pm) before returning to the University of Worcester Arena on Friday, October 5, against Bristol Flyers.