Remedy required for Rocks after Scorchers prove too hot to handle
IF losing is a habit, then Glasgow Rocks will hope it is an affliction they can quickly break. Defeat to British Basketball League title rivals Newcastle on Friday was excusable. Another reverse to Surrey Scorchers last night anything but. Sterling Davis’s men are now ten points behind leaders Leicester but at least with a comfortable cushion in third. But a fourth-quarter collapse cost them the chance to quickly regain momentum as their bogey side left the Emirates Arena with a 89-75 win.
With Neil Watson and Anthony Elechi out, the Scots coped manfully in hitting nine unanswered points to move 26-18 clear after the opening period. And with Kieron Achara racking up 13 points and as many rebounds, they looked poised to tr iumph short-handed.
However the Scorchers, paced by 27 points from ex-Rock Tayo Ogedengbe, hit back with an 8-0 burst and although Glasgow pulled clear again, the visitors produced the most timely of surges. Holding the Rocks to just five points in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter, they closed with a 9-1 run that put the Rocks – headed by 21 from Hayden Lescault – on their heels.
Leicester remain on track for the title after beating Cheshire 82-75 while Sheffield kept up their chase of the Scots by holding off Plymouth 87-81.
Meanwhile, Women’s BBL strugglers Caledonia Pride were crushed 88-59 by Northumbria to stay one place off the foot of the table. Sarah Thomson scored 21 but the Scots were undone in the second period when a 13-2 flurry wrecked their chances.
Glasgow Rocks 75 Surrey Scorchers 89, London Lions 81 Leeds Force 92, Plymouth Raiders 81 Sheffield Sharks 87. Sat: Bristol Flyers 82 Sheffield Sharks 69, Leicester Riders 82 Cheshire Phoenix 75
Caledonia Pride 59 Team Northumbria 88
RESULTS. BBL. WBBL.
Bill McInnes, the former Scotland and Great Britain basketball captain, has died after a brief illness at the age of 71. Currently serving as the chair of the 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. email: sport@theherald.co.uk. Tel 0141 302 7156 Head of Sport Stewart Weir British Basketball Federation, and a long-time chairman of Basketball Scotland, McInnes was a player, coach and official at Boroughmuir Basketball Club in Edinburgh and was the fulcrum of the team which won the British title in 1972 as well as making several appearances in the European Championship Cup. He earned 172 international caps, including 49 for GB – holding the record appearance mark for over three decades – and led a successful lobbying campaign to earn a host berth at the London 2012 Olympics.