DIRECTOR of basketball Paul James says Worcester Wolves’ historic season has set the benchmark for future success.

Wolves defeated Newcastle Eagles 90-78 in the British Basketball League play-off final at Wembley Arena on Sunday to add to the BBL Trophy they won in March.

Having also finished third in the league, it has been an incredible campaign for the University Arena outfit.

Now James is looking to harness that momentum by retaining the bulk of his players for next season.

He said: “It’s nice to finish the season on two trophies, nobody else has done that. It’s great for the Wolves because we hadn’t won anything before this season.

“Now we’ve raised the bar so high that to follow it next year is going to be tough. We are going to have to do something really special again next year.

“It’s down to the powers-that-be to provide me with the resources that we need to move forward, hopefully have most of this team back and then improve on it with a couple of players.”

Zaire Taylor top-scored with 30 points against the Eagles, while Will Creekmore, Alex Owumi and Jamal Williams scored 14 each.

James added: “I knew we had a team capable of winning something this year. We came into this competition knowing that if we stuck together as a team and focused on ourselves we would have a good run at it.

“We came into this game with a lot of confidence, we felt we had the beating of Newcastle and that we owed them one and what a great match it was.

“The game-plan was great and as far as being focused as a team and not deviating from the plan, I thought we did a tremendous job.

“The guys were very disciplined which I’m pleased about.”

n Wolves win is Taylor-made: Page 36.