HEAD coach Paul James has challenged his players to stand up and be counted as Worcester Wolves attempt to push on without key men Perris Blackwell and Ben Eaves.

The duo face lengthy spells on the sidelines after suffering "freak" injuries in the lead up to Wolves' clash against second placed Leicester Riders last Friday.

James described the loss of Blackwell and Eaves as a "very serious" double blow as Worcester went on to lose 83-65, but he insisted it was now important they moved on.

Third ranked Wolves host Surrey Scorchers tomorrow night (7.30pm) and James said the British Basketball League encounter presented an opportunity for other players to stake their claim.

"If you lose two of your best players through injury, you are always going to struggle," he said. "It does not matter who you are, it is hard to make up those numbers.

"If you take Andrew Sullivan out of the Leicester team and Charles Smith out of the Newcastle team along with their point guards then all of a sudden they can become ordinary teams.

"The injuries hurt us against Leicester, but hopefully we are going to have enough against the teams we have got coming up.

"It is just one of things that can happen. Over the last few years we have been pretty good as far as keeping injury-free, but this year we have been unfortunate.

"So it is now up to those other players who are fit and healthy to say 'I am going to get more court time and it is my chance to grab that opportunity and show what I can do'."

James admitted their recent injury set-backs were likely to boost Surrey's hopes of beating Wolves, but having pushed Leicester close for long periods of their match last week, he believed they had the ability to return to winning ways.

"Surrey are going to come here with a lot of confidence because if I was in the opposition looking in and saw Perris Blackwell and Ben Eaves out injured I would be thinking 'we have got a really good chance'," James said.

"I am sure they will be adjusting their game to attack the basket because we have not go that inside presence, but we have to adjust our game to make sure we cause them as many problems as they cause us.

"Surrey will be a tough game, but they perhaps don't have the individual talent that Leicester have or the depth that Leicester have.

"So if we can play the way we played against Leicester for the first three quarters and finish the game off in the fourth I think we have got enough there to get the win."