Glasgow Rocks Official Website

The Glasgow Rocks entered their SKY televised game on Remembrance Sunday in less than ideal fashion following two tough defeats to Cheshire and Newcastle while the injury to veteran E.J. Harrison meant that the navy blue would be up against it for the visit of the One Health Sheffield Sharks.

The Sharks themselves, however, have gotten off to a somewhat surprisingly slow start considering their unquestionable fire power, with the like of Nate Reinking and Olu Babalola, and came into the game on the back of a three game losing streak that included agonising losses to Newcastle and Plymouth that saw them drop to a 1-2 record in league play this term.

Going into the game the match-up I was most looking forward to seeing was the battle of the big men. Sharks forward Justin Dobbins up against DeAundrae. For all the flair players and sexy three pointers, games are won and lost in the paint and on the boards and these two earn their pay doing those exact things.

The Rocks came out looking a bit slow on both ends of the court, as they have done a few times this season. The hustle on the offensive rebounds in particular wasn’t what it should have been with too many players not anticipating the board. Sheffield raced out to an early lead and Dobbins appeared to be having the better of his personal battle with Cranston. Then, it got a whole lot worse as Cranston injured his ankle and sat out all but 22 seconds of what remained of the game. I, for one, feared the worst as the Sharks size looked like it might overpower the Rocks. Add to that, Glasgow were playing their second game in three days and now were down to just eight players, it was  going to take an heroic performance in front of the TV cameras to pull a win out of the bag.

And boy did they deliver! An 82-64 victory moved Glasgow up to 2^nd in the championship as yet again the Rocks defensive hustle and fight proved too difficult to break down. Speaking to Sterl after the game he couldn’t have sounded happier with the effort and determination of his troops, commenting that ‘the guys really came through and showed what type of team we can be regardless of what type of situations are thrown at us.’ Coach Davis also confirmed that DeAundrae Cranston suffered a sprained ankle and it will be assessed before anything is stated regarding how long it might keep him out of action for.

Following the injury to Cranston, the remainder of the boys really stepped it up and didn’t allow the Sharks any time on the ball once they crossed into the Glasgow half. A 32% field goal percentage from Sheffield says more about the Rocks defence than it did the Sharks offence. I counted just 4 genuinely uncontested shots for the Sharks at the Kelvin Hall last night, proof, if indeed it were at all needed, that pressure leads to missed shots.

With Harrison being the quarterback it was going to be interesting to see who would carry the team in the way that E.J does. The truth is, everybody chipped in. Green dominated for a large spell, and led all scorers with 23 points. Huffor was game MVP with 18 points and 5 steals while Coach dominated defensively with 3 blocks. Even Martins came on and nailed two crucial three pointers, much to his delight. During the course of a long season, each team will have to deal with various injuries that will stretch the squad, but this Rocks team appears to have real depth, as Martins proved when he came on and impressed.

Next up for Glasgow is an away trip to the north-east to face the Durham Wildcats, a team they have already beaten twice in the BBL Trophy this season, although both were tough games. Four of Durham’s last five games, in fact, have been decided by five points or less. Wedemire, who got the start in place of the inured Harrison on Sunday, expects another close encounter, saying that the Rocks will have to bring their ‘A game’ if they want to return north of the border with the win.

The next home game will be 4^th December against the other north-east team, our main rivals the Newcastle Eagles in what promises to be a great game against the early leaders of the BBL table, although hopefully by the time we play them, it will be the Rocks who are soaring above the Eagles.

Let’s Rock!

Callum Carson

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Callum Carson, Season 2011/12. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.