Rollers run out of gas in Mackay

A FOURTH-quarter flop on tired legs has cost the Gold Coast Rollers any chance of pulling off an upset in the Queensland Basketball League.

The Rollers were up against new ladder leaders Mackay Meteors at The Southport School over the weekend and had their heads in front by 69-68 at three-quarter-time and with star American Torrey Craig in full flight.

Even with less than three minutes to go, the Rollers led by four points but suddenly hit the wall.

With Craig inconvenienced after hurting his shoulder in a heavy fall, the Rollers ran out of legs and went down by an unflattering 93-79.

The Rollers managed only 10 points for the entire term, with Craig scoring eight of his match haul of 40.

“Torrey had been dominating the Meteors but it looked like he ran out of steam – and he did take a heavy hall and seemed to hurt his shoulder,” Coast basketball boss Joel McInnes said.

Craig’s 40 points took him to top spot on the QBL scoring lists with 229 points at 28.6 average from eight matches.

Craig will now be in the side heading to the tropics for matches against Townsville (Friday) and Cairns (Saturday) before he heads to an NBL Summer Camp for a crack at earning an NBA contract.

The Rollers women went down 74-39 to Mackay.