HEAD coach Paul James believes Worcester Wolves’ “very tough” end-of-season run-in will stand them in good stead for the British Basketball League play-offs.

Wolves take on high-flying Newcastle Eagles at the University of Worcester Arena tomorrow night (7.30pm) before visiting fourth-placed Glasgow Rocks on Sunday (5pm).

James’ men then round off the regular season by facing four more teams in the top seven as they travel to Plymouth Raiders and Leicester Riders either side of home clashes with London Lions and Sheffield Sharks.

But the Wolves boss insists his side are relishing the challenge having put together a run of seven successive league victories.

“We always knew the last 10 games made for a very tough schedule and we needed to come out of that on the right side of those matches,” James said.

“We have made a great start to that and have got six fixtures left.

“They are all tough but these are the sort of games you want to be involved in because should we make the play-offs we need to be playing our best basketball at the right time and you can’t do that without playing against the better teams.

“So I think it is great we are going to be playing in these very competitive matches week in week out until the end of the season because it is going to stand us in good stead come the play-offs.”

Worcester are in fifth position, two points behind Glasgow and four adrift of third-placed Sheffield.

But James said it was important to concentrate on the next game rather than focus on where they want to finish in the table.

“We have got Newcastle up next which we want to win and then we have got Glasgow which we want to win as well,” he said.

“That has been our state of mind since Christmas so the next game is the most important one and we have managed that fantastically.

“We have not looked at where we might finish in the league as that will take care of itself so we have just got to win enough games now to make sure we are in the play-offs in the first place and then we will see where we go from there.”

Wolves kickstarted their impressive run of form when they claimed a stunning 112-103 triumph at Newcastle in late January thanks to strong performances from Maurice Walker (23 points), Ashton Khan (22) and Danny Huffor (21).

And James said his team were confident of chalking up another victory against Eagles who have lost two of their last three games.

“The win in Newcastle turned things around a bit for us and we have not looked back since,” James said.

“It will be another tough game for us at the arena as Newcastle are right up there.

“They had a couple of losses and some injury problems they are trying to get over to make sure everyone is fit and healthy come the play-offs.

“Obviously our confidence is very high as we have won a few games back-to-back now which is great for the team and we will continue to work hard for each other.”