HEAD coach Paul James admits Worcester Wolves face a “mountain to climb” to progress to the BBL Trophy final after a “sloppy display” at Plymouth Raiders.

Wolves will need to overturn an 18-point deficit in the second leg later this month after Raiders ran out 96-78 winners last night.

Jermel Kennedy top scored for Worcester with 16 points, while Marek Klassen and Maurice Walker finished with 14 points apiece.

But several spells of careless ball-handling punctuated the first leg as Plymouth put themselves in a commanding position.

“It was a sloppy display,” said James, whose side host Raiders in the return leg on Friday, February 24.

“Plymouth were on fire, but even if they missed we allowed them far too often to get the rebound and have a second go.

“They had 19 second-chance points and we turned the ball over 21 times.

“There’s no hope of winning if you give up those sorts of numbers.

“We’re not going to concede the tie, but we now have a mountain to climb in the second leg.”

Kennedy was the feature of a competitive first quarter, including an emphatic one-handed slam after he had jabbed the ball out of the hands of a Plymouth attacker.

A double of scores from Raiders’ reserve forward John Barber brought the sides together at 18-18 entering the second period.

Four minutes before half-time it was still all-square at 28-28 before Wolves suffered their first breakdown.

A 24-second shot-clock violation was followed by a trio of turnovers, allowing Plymouth to jump out to a 39-30 interval advantage.

Though unable to narrow the gap, Worcester stabilised enough to keep matters competitive at 69-58 by the end of the third quarter.

Ashton Khan sank a triple after the first minute of the final period, but it would be another four minutes before the visitors would again trouble the scoreboard as more turnovers and more failures to get shots away in a timely fashion ensued.

In the meantime, Plymouth went to work. Six points from lively centre Cory Dixon finalised an 85-61 lead.

A series of three-pointers added salt to Worcester’s already seeping wounds, leaving a more-than-challenging deficit to overcome.

Wolves face their fourth game in a week with the visit of Manchester Giants to the University of Worcester Arena tomorrow night (7.30pm).