LEE DAVIE is demanding a season's best performance when his Durham Wildcats travel to Sheffield Sharks with a place in the BBL Cup semi-finals against Newcastle Eagles at stake tonight.

Wildcats have enjoyed a good start to the season, including a narrow quarter-final win over the Cheshire Phoenix - before Phoenix got their revenge in the league last Sunday, beating Davie’s side 75-68.

But Davie has his heart set on this competition and is desperate for a return to form on Friday.

"We set the season goal of making it out of the first round of the cup and then putting the best cup run together we possibly can,” said Davie, whose side host Plymouth Raiders tomorrow evening at Newton Aycliffe in the BBL.

"The guys are really excited for the opportunity that Friday's game presents.

"We have tremendous respect for Sheffield and we want to have our best game of the year so far on Friday night."

Sharks swept Durham aside when the teams met a month ago, but Davie is ready to make the necessary adjustments to turn the tables.

"Sheffield have a very experienced and successful core group of guys that bring a lot to their team," Davie said. "We need to shrink the floor defensively making it difficult for the guards to get in the lane and post entry passes to Mike Tuck, Patrick Horstmann and Da'Quan Cook.

"Offensively we had one of our worst games of the year against them last time around. We've made some changes and we'll see what they bring come Friday night."

Meanwhile, Wildcats guard Kirk Crecco is determined for the Durham franchise to get the most out of the month.

"Our mentality right now is to approach every game as a 'must-win' as well as an opportunity to improve,” he explained. "We are focused on trying to make November the best month that we can make it.

"Being able to advance in the cup would be a great step in the right direction for our franchise and our team is excited about the opportunity."

The weekend brings Durham’s second double header in a row, after Wildcats saw off Glasgow Rocks 85-72 before the Cheshire defeat 24 hours later last week.

Sixth-placed Raiders, Saturday’s opponents, are just two wins behind table-topping Worcester Wolves, and two ahead of Wildcats, in seventh.

There were 12 points between these sides when Plymouth prevailed last month, and Davie feels his side have their work cut out for them at Newton Aycliffe tomorrow.

"We need to do a better job of controlling the penetration, which will allow us to disrupt them offensively and slow them down to a degree,” he said.

"We want to be in a better position to force them to shoot more contested shots and allow us to keep bodies on their bigs off-the-ball, keeping them off the offensive boards."

Last weekend, Danny Huffor finished with 19 points as his new Wildcats team defeated his previous employers. Durham’s victory was their first against Glasgow in nine attempts, but Coach Davie’s team never looked like losing this one against one of the BBL’s more established franchises.

It was game MVP Danny Huffor that got his team going in the opening stages of the contest with a number of early buckets for the Wildcats, supported by the much-improved Odiba Attah, Durham raced to double figures to lead the game 10-5 after less than three minutes on the game clock. EJ Harrison made a number of key baskets to get the Rocks back within in two points before Kirk Crecco grabbed the final basket of the quarter to take his team into the first break leading 24-19.

RJ Evans entered the court at the start of the second quarter for the first time since picking up a knee injury at the end of October, the UCONN graduate made a number of rebounds to continue the good defensive performance his team had displayed in the first quarter. Ralph Bucci and Paul Elderkin made big threes for the home side, but Daniel Northern was becoming a handful in the paint for the Rocks to keep the game close. Jonny Bunyan made a three-point play with seconds remaining in the first half to send the Rocks into the locker room just three points behind with the score 38-35.

Odiba Attah made the first basket of the second half with a big three inside 15 seconds, but the Rocks responded once more as Daniel Northern continued his good night from inside the paint and the free throw line. Halfway through the third quarter, big man Mike Allison was left wide open on the perimeter and opted to take the shot, the centre found nothing but net to extend the home side’s advantage to eight. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter allowing the Wildcats to take a 57-49 lead heading into the final ten minutes.

Captain Ralph Bucci took control of the game from then onwards dictating the tempo of the game at both ends of the court to give the Rocks no way back into the contest. The Wildcats captain finished the evening with a very impressive 15 points, ten assists and nine rebounds, as his team completed another comfortable victory.

A night later, Wildcats went down in a close contest on the road at Cheshire Phoenix. With less than 24 hours to recover, Durham dominated the early exchanges, with captain Bucci once more leading from the front with a string of baskets and rebounds in the first quarter, at the end of which the visitors led 17 points to 13.

Cheshire hit back with a strong second period to take an eight-point lead into the locker room at half-time, leading the contest 38-32.

Durham managed to reduce the deficit to just 4 points going into the last, but Cheshire took advantage of some tired Durham legs in the final quarter to eventually run out 75-68 winners. Despite ending up on the losing team, Bucci continued his excellent form with an impressive 15 rebounds and 21 points.

Wildcats face Plymouth Raiders at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre, 7pm tip-off, tomorrow. Tickets are available in advance online at www.godurhamwildcats.com.