FEARLESS head coach Paul James has challenged his Worcester Wolves players to spoil Newcastle Eagles’ “party” at the Sport Central tonight (7.30pm).

Newcastle lead the British Basketball League and were crowned BBL Cup champions last Sunday with a 93-81 victory over Glasgow Rocks.

In stark contrast, Wolves have been struggling for form and dropped out of the play-off places following an 81-73 defeat at Bristol Flyers last Saturday.

James admitted it was a “very tough” game for his ninth-placed side who have lost their last three league games.

But having guided Wolves to many victories over Newcastle during his tenure James insisted he did not fear the high-flyers.

Worcester have won six of their last 12 meetings against Eagles but Fabulous Flournoy’s men claimed a comfortable 87-67 win at the University of Worcester Arena in October.

“Newcastle won the BBL Cup last weekend so they just go from strength to strength with their team and rightly so,” James said.

“To have that continuity of players and add around it to make yourself better year on year is the model you want and they have been doing that for a long time.

“It’s going to be a very tough game up there but I don’t fear it. I think we will compete with them because we have played to the level of our opposition this year.

“Their heads might be a bit sore after the party so we will go up there, be really competitive and give ourselves a chance at the end. I am looking forward to it.”

Wolves are also set to be boosted by the return of point guard Ashton Khan who missed the trip to Bristol through illness.

“We have got a few niggles but everyone should be good to go,” James said.

“Ashton didn’t play last weekend because he had an illness which didn’t help us as Marek (Klassen) had to play 40 minutes. But Ashton is back in training.”

After tackling Newcastle Wolves will return home before travelling to The Cooper Box to face fifth-placed London Lions on Sunday (4pm).

James added: “Everyone has got their own opinions as to what is going on which is easy to do when you are not in the thick of things.

“But we are and the guys are working extremely hard.

“We are frustrated as we have got a talented team and things haven’t gone our way.

“It has snowballed and we need to stop that snowball from rolling, get over this little hump and put back-to-back wins together which is going to make life easier for us.”