SKIPPER Marek Klassen and Jermel Kennedy must cut out “petty” fouls, according to Worcester Wolves head coach Paul James.

The Wolves chief says the experienced duo must be “careful” to avoid conceding penalties in tomorrow night’s home clash against Newcastle Eagles in the British Basketball League (7.30pm).

Wolves had to protect Klassen after he picked up a couple of early fouls as they slumped to a 102-79 defeat at Cheshire Phoenix in their last outing.

A player conceding five personal fouls in a match is barred for the remainder and James is keen to avoid the pitfall of being short-handed.

“If Marek picks up early fouls or if Jermel gets into early foul trouble, it really affects the dynamics of the team,” said James.

“They are the senior and leading players on the team so they have to be careful in the way they are picking up fouls and the times they are doing it.

“We have to rotate players in and out and there’s certain rotations which work better than others so if Marek or Jermel are out it takes quite a big chunk of our rotation.

“We have to be a bit wiser because we need these kind of players on the court. I don’t want to be protecting them from fouling out of a game.”

Wolves have won just two of their opening six league matches after filling their roster with a host of new players over the summer.

And James says Worcester have “still got a lot of work to do” in all areas of their game as they host high-flying Newcastle before travelling to struggling Manchester Giants on Sunday (5pm).

“It’s a new group of players and we’re finding a way to work with each other and understand each other so it’s work in progress,” said James.

“We have to play hard and be aggressive and intense but, at the same time, we have to be cautious of not getting into early foul trouble because that can affect the team for the rest of the game.”

Despite their disappointing start, James says the players and coaches have been “working hard” on the training court and in analysis.

“We go through video footage in the week and break things down so players can see where they need to be in situations during matches and then we put it onto the court,” said James.

“Players must understand where they need to be in relation to the ball because the ball is the most important thing on the court.

“We have some good three-point shooters but also need the option to go inside and attack the basket.

“That’s the sort of thing we have been working on in training because we can’t become one-dimensional in our play.”

Both of Warriors’ victories this term have been at their University of Worcester Arena home and James stressed the importance of turning it into a fortress.

“Home form is really important and Newcastle always play a great brand of basketball, which is going to be physical and tough, and we have to be strong, physically and mentally, and ready to deal with them,” said James.

“We are not burying our heads. We know we have a good team but we have to find out how we can reflect it on the floor and have some consistency.”

Meanwhile, big American forward Deondre McWhorter, 23, has been released by Wolves.

A club statement said: “We can confirm Deondre has left during the initial phase of his probationary period.

“He clearly has a lot of potential and we wish him good luck for the future.”