WORCESTER Wolves could have challenged for the British Basketball League title if they had landed Maurice Walker and Trey Zeigler last summer.

That’s the view of head coach Paul James who hailed the duo’s impact as Wolves pulled off a “spectacular” second half of the season.

Following the departure of Deondre McWhorter, Wolves captured power forward Walker from Latvian outfit Valmiera in November.

The 6ft 10in Canadian-British player became a key player for the University of Worcester Arena outfit, averaging 18.95 points and 9.11 rebounds per game.

“When Mo came in we would win one, lose two, win one, lose two,” James said.

“It took a couple of games for him to settle down, but straight away you could see the impact he was going to have on our team.

“It was then up to us to learn how to play with him as we had been so used to playing without a big man.

“It took us a while to think we can actually pass the ball inside and he can do something with it, but he had a massive impact.”

James also sang the praises of Zeigler who arrived at the club in February after Andrew Bachman suffered what looked like being a season-ending injury.

Zeigler lost just two of his 16 games in a Wolves jersey as his side put together a scintillating run of form and almost reached the BBL play-off final.

"Like Mo, Trey gave us something a little bit different,” James said.

"He gave us an impact off the bench and he fitted straight in as well.

"So I think if we had started the season with those guys we would have been right up there challenging with Leicester and Newcastle for us.

"It wasn’t to be, but I think the way we turned the season around was quite spectacular.”

After a torrid start to the campaign which saw them slip outside of the top eight, Wolves won 15 of their final 17 matches of the regular season.

And James admitted their back-to-back wins at Newcastle Eagles and London Lions in late January was a turning point in their season.

“I think that was a massive weekend for us,” James said.

“I think we were down in ninth at the time so to go to Newcastle and beat them the way we did was absolutely fantastic.

“But to then back that up on the Sunday against London who a lot of people tipped to be either first or second this season was the moment when actually we thought if we just work hard for each other we can have a run of wins and we can really have an impact on the league.”