WORCESTER Wolves missed injured key big man Robert Thurman as they went down 75-70 at home to London Lions in the British Basketball League.

But they came close to upsetting a star-studded visiting line-up at the University of Worcester Arena.

Lions moved into double-digit leads several times but Wolves doggedly refused to lie down, even giving themselves a sniff of an unlikely victory in the final few minutes.

Last year’s Wolves player-of-the-season Zaire Taylor marked his return to Worcester by scoring the opening basket of the evening for his new employers.

With Wolves already trailing 19-13 approaching the last couple of minutes of the first quarter, space was given for Great Britain captain Andrew Sullivan to drain a long-range shot.

Forward Jamal Williams immediately replied but could only watch as Sullivan sank two further triples to extend the Lions’ lead to 30-20.

Taylor missed a jump shot at the beginning of the second quarter but another former Worcester player, 6ft 10ins Ian Salter, was on hand to tip in the miss.

A three-pointer at the half-time buzzer from Alex Owumi kept the hosts in contention at 43-35.

Commencing the second-half, Taylor again featured in the opening possession of a period, drawing howls of derision when his shot attempt dropped several feet short of the hoop.

A heavily-strapped Kaili Irving was bang on the mark to reduce the deficit.

Four minutes of the half had elapsed before London could score from the field. In the meantime, Worcester crept back to 48-47.

Williams then produced a dazzling spin move to nudge his side in front.

Unsettled, the visitors gave up the ball when unable to get a shot away in the permitted 24 seconds.

However, calm and a 59-54 advantage was restored entering the final period, aided by a couple of scores for London forward Lovell Cook.

Worcester were kept at bay until reserve guard Sean Park finally opened his scoring account with a triple.

Owumi did likewise and suddenly the teams were level at 66-66 with four minutes remaining.

Chavis Holmes connected and Wolves were once more ahead.

But the hosts were unable to maintain the momentum, allowing London to peck their way to the 75-70 away victory.

Holmes and Owumi led the Worcester scoring with 19 and 15 points respectively, supported by 12 from Williams.

Director of basketball Paul James said: “It was a gutsy performance. We didn’t win but the effort was there. We showed some belief and stayed in the game.”

Next up is a visit tomorrow to Leicester Riders before Wolves host Leeds Force on Sunday (3pm).

On Thurman’s injury, James added: “Robert is 50-50 to return for Leicester but we don’t want to worsen matters by rushing him back. We’ll assess the situation as the week goes on.”