HEAD coach Paul James has challenged his Worcester Wolves side to establish themselves in British Basketball League’s top four after their cup quest came to an end.

Wolves face third-placed Glasgow Rocks at the University of Worcester Arena tonight (7.30pm) before visiting Bristol Flyers tomorrow (7.30pm).

James said he was disappointed to see his team fail to reach a second final of the season following a BBL Trophy semi-final defeat to Sheffield Sharks last weekend.

But with Wolves in fourth position, level on points with London Lions, James insisted there was still plenty to aim for with the league’s top eight teams set to compete in the end-of-season play-offs.

“We have got a lot of games still to come,” said James whose side beat Lions in the league last Friday.

“Although it was disappointing not to have got to a Trophy final we got to one in the BBL Cup and we gave ourselves a chance of getting to another so that’s got to be a good thing.

“Our target now is to get in the top four.

“Leicester keep winning so they look set to win the title so now it is a matter of seeing where you can finish in the league and making sure you have won enough games to make the play-offs.

“Just looking at the standings second through to eighth can all still finish in the top four so there are plenty of big games to come, starting at home to Glasgow and then Bristol a day later.”

Wolves slumped to a 82-76 loss at home to Glasgow in November before bouncing back with a 97-85 victory at the Scottish side a week later.

Brandon Parrish starred that day with a 22-point haul and is expected to play a prominent role again with Dallin Bachynski (Achilles) likely to miss out through injury. Glasgow are six points ahead of Wolves after winning four of their past five league games and James admitted his side faced a “big ask”.

“We have played Glasgow a couple of times already this season,” James added.

“They have made some changes since then, so they are going to be a different team. They have got some size and height so if Dallin is not able to play again then it is going to be another big ask for the other guys to step up, fill that void and try to deal with their centres and power forwards.

“Offensively we have got to do a better job at sharing the ball and distribute it quicker.

“We have got to play to our advantage by playing with a lot of speed and up-tempo basketball.

“We have gone over what has happened, re-grouped and looked at what we want to achieve over these next five games.”