Cheshire Phoenix gave their BBL Championship play-offs hopes a huge boost with an impressive 91-84 home win over familiar foes Worcester Wolves.

The Nix's form has taken a nosedive since they famously beat Worcester at Arena Birmingham in January to claim the BBL Cup.

They went into last night's clash on the back of a run of four straight league defeats that had damaged their prospects of making the end-of-season tournament.

But Ben Thomas' team are now just four points behind Bristol Flyers in eighth after they produced an excellent team performance to beat sixth-placed Worcester.

The Nix won the first quarter 29-22 before seeing their lead pegged back to 48-47 at the end of the second.

But an 11-0 run in the third quarter laid the foundation for a success that also owed a great deal to their shooting from the two-point range (51%).

Malcolm Riley was not far away from a triple-double for Cheshire after harvesting 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Captain Orlan Jackman, fresh from his England call-up for the Commonwealth Games, had a near double-double of 19 points and nine boards, while Rob Sandoval handed out 10 assists.

But it was Raheem May-Thompson (22) who led the points scoring for the Nix, who head to runaway leaders and newly crowned BBL Trophy champions Leicester Riders tonight (7.30pm).

Cheshire guard Alassan Touray said: "Another huge test for us and we know that they are a very strong team that will push us for all 40 minutes."