WORCESTER Wolves missed a chance to move up from seventh in the British Basketball League when narrowly losing out at second-placed Newcastle Eagles last night.

A slow start saw Wolves fall 45-36 behind by half-time before a rampaging third quarter closed the gap to 67-66.

After a see-saw final period the visitors trailed 86-83 in the last minute but allowed Eagles to snatch successive offensive rebounds and dampen Worcester’s opportunity to complete a comeback.

Head coach Paul James felt his team lacked intensity at several points of the game.

He said: “We were slow out of the blocks and let Newcastle get too many easy scores.

"We finally got going in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win.

“But then we let them take charge at the end.

"When they missed consecutive shots but still grabbed the rebounds it killed off the game.”

Alex Navajas continued his tradition of dominating in the early going, slotting home a highly-impressive five baskets in the same number of minutes.

But with scant scoring support from anywhere else his side fell 24-17 behind entering the second quarter.

New point guard George Marshall sank a triple then scored again after stealing the ball, levelling matters at 24-24.

Again Worcester’s offence stagnated, leaving Newcastle to accumulate a healthy interval lead.

Former Wolves stalwart Jamal Williams twice stood in the path of Dallin Bachynski, resulting in a double of offensive fouls called against the seven-footer and limiting his further involvement in the contest.

However, George Beamon took advantage of the increase in space close to the hoop to drive to an eye-popping 16 third-quarter points and put the match back on the boil.

With four minutes remaining Palmer tipped in a Marshall miss to nudge Worcester 77-75 ahead.

Not to be subdued, Newcastle responded with a 10-1 tear to retake the initiative.

A frantic last few seconds saw the ball slung from one player to another until Navajas was forced to heave up a desperation shot that clanged off the front of the rim.

Beamon led the scoring with 22 points.

Navajas tallied a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds while Palmer did likewise, notching 10 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Marshall contributed 15 points.

Wolves are next in action when they face the same opponents at the University of Worcester Arena on Friday, April 13.

“We will need to play with more rhythm and more purpose,” added James.

“We have to make sure we get Dallin more involved and everyone will have to play with a lot more energy."