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A mesmeric display from Mychal Green led the Rocks to a 99-94 victory over the winless Guilford Heat on Sunday at the Kelvin Hall in a contest that was marred by the serious injury suffered by ex-Rock and fan favourite Mike Copeland in the first quarter.

Despite Guilford having gone 0-11 in all competitions both Coach Davis and guard Danny Huffor were keen to point out that the Heat were certainly not going to be taken lightly. Davis stated that he ‘disregarded their record completely,’ with Danny adding that he knew they were ‘going to be a good, athletic team.’

Veteran guard E.J. Harrison remained out, while Sterl still wasn’t 100% fit, so yet again the Rocks were going to have to play short-handed. That being said, when you have the Green Machine playing the way he has been this season, it almost seems like you can throw anything our way and Mychal will lap it up, get on with the job and carry this team on his shoulders.

The teams traded baskets in the early going, with neither team building a sizeable lead. The Rocks defence was posted missing on a few occasions though that led to easy points for the Heat, something that you just can’t concede against any opposition. Guilford dominated the boards, which led to them being able to cut down the second chance opportunities for Glasgow. With just over a minute to go in the first quarter, big Cope went down following a collision with Cranston underneath the basket. The injury looked bad at the time, and has since been confirmed as a snapped patella tendon. I’m sure everyone associated with the Rocks, fans and staff alike, wish Mike a speedy recovery.

Following a lengthy delay, the Heat claimed five unanswered points to close out the first quarter and take a 28-20 lead. Then, it was Mychal’s time to shine. In the second quarter alone, Green notched up 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting (including 5 of 5 from behind the arc and 2 of 2 from the free throw line). I can let the stats do the talking there. Simply an incredible performance, even more so when you consider that Murray was the Rocks second highest scorer with 21 for the entire game!

Green ended up with 32 points in total, and speaking to Danny after the game, he was in absolutely no doubt that Green has taken over the role of team leader following the injury to E.J, saying that while the entire team has had to step up, Mychal has stepped up ‘way higher’ than anyone else.

When E.J. gets back from his injury, that must surely give the Rocks the best guard combo in the league. You would have the three remarkable guards, each with their own unique skills to bring to the table. Huffor is a defensive specialist, Green the offensive weapon, while Harrison has all the intangibles that don’t get noted in the box score with his leadership and knowledge of the game. That, of course, is not to say he doesn’t contribute considerably on the score sheet.

Green’s second quarter heroics turned the tide massively in favour of the Rocks, and it was to stay that way for the remainder of the game. A four point half-time lead became eight going into the final quarter. Although the Rocks were never able to put the game beyond doubt until the last few seconds, they did hold the lead for the entire second half against a very resilient and determined side, who despite now being 0-12 were certainly no slouches.

Both teams, in actuality, played fairly similar games with a high tempo offence that was geared to score points. Defensively, the Rocks in particular, and rather uncharacteristically, allowed numerous open looks from down town and perhaps a more lethal team would have taken the two Championship points away from Kelvin Hall, but the Rocks ultimately did enough.

One pleasing note was that Glasgow hit 9 of 18 from behind the arc, significantly better than their season average, and what arguably lost us the game last week against the Eagles. If they can keep up stats like that, then they will be even more difficult to beat.

Next week the Rocks have a tough double header away at Worcester and Plymouth, but Huffor, who tallied 18 points on Sunday, and was one of four Rocks players to nail 50%, or more, of their shots, is looking relishing the challenge, believing that back to back games ‘make us more prepared, we go into the first game and we’ll play really well and I know the second game is going to be even better, that’s just how we are.’ Let’s hope you’re right Danny!

As this is the last blog before Christmas, I’ll take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Christmas and also to pass on my condolences to the family and friends of James Lay. Although I never knew him personally it is easy to see the impact he had on many of those in the Rocks family and his loss came far too soon.

Let’s Rock!

The Glasgow Rocks suffered an agonising defeat against main rivals Newcastle Eagles in front of a sold-out Kelvin Hall on Sunday. The 89-85 reverse sees Glasgow slip down to third in the BBL Championship, behind Worcester, with a 5-3 record. Newcastle, on the other hand, remain top with their unbeaten record.

It was always going to be a tough ask for the Rocks given the continued absence of star guard E.J Harrison to an ankle injury, while Coach was carrying a knock himself that limited him to slightly over 13 minutes of game time.

The first quarter was a real back and forth affair with both sides enjoying short bursts of domination. Glasgow came out firing and opened up an early five point advantage but the Eagles quickly fought back.  The defensive pressure that Sterl has tried to hammer home to his troops all season was only shown in all too brief glimpses and the Eagles were left with far too many uncontested shots. That being said, the Rocks dominated the boards, at both ends in the first stanza and, despite not playing outstanding basketball, they found themselves down four points heading into the second quarter, where it all seemed to fall apart.

In what was surely the worst period played by the Rocks this year, they allowed the Eagles to go on a 25-2 run that looked like it had effectively clinched the game. The Rocks were sloppy in possession, turning the ball over with embarrassing regularity and letting the Eagles stroll to the basket for the easy shot. They seemed to be almost trying too hard and offensively just didn’t seem relaxed.

Yes, the injuries were damaging to the team, and the result may well have been different had EJ and Davis been fit, but the Rocks shot themselves in the foot with this one. At one point, Glasgow were a woeful 1 of 19 from behind the arc. Need I say more? I also feel that Davis should have changed things up a bit during the second quarter. At half-time, Wedemire, who had his best game in a Rocks jersey so far, and the Green Machine, totalled 23 of the 26 Rocks points. What happened to the other guys? The so-called ‘reserve’ players have shown on several occasions that they are more than capable of putting in a decent performance when called upon, especially wee Jonny Bunyan. Had he, or Martins, been given a run out for five minutes or so, it would have given the Eagles something different to think about and may have been the catalyst the Rocks so badly needed. At the end of the day, why have bench players if you’re reluctant to use them, especially when short-handed? While it may be a limited sample, Bunyan, Malnieks and Richards have gone 11 of 17 combined this season, so they are hardly slouches and clearly the stats show that only Mychal and Andy were remotely effective in the first half.

As bad as the second quarter was, the third quarter was incredible. The Rocks equalled their 26 first half points within eight minutes and outscored the Eagles 35-17. Green quoted Sterling, after the game, as having instilled a belief in his players that ‘Newcastle are not a better team than us,’ and that Coach simply asked his troops to play ‘Rocks basketball.’ Well, they certainly did that. The high intensity on both sides of the ball that was so badly lacking during the second quarter returned in abundance and dreams of a miraculous comeback were well and truly on. DeAundrae, in particular, come out fired up and scored 8 of his 14 for the game in the opening five minutes of the second half.

That, essentially, was the difference between a truly awful second quarter and the heroic fight back. Murray, Huffor and Cranston were finding ways of getting to the basket and getting their shots to drop. Remarkably, having gone 1 of 19 previously, the Rocks went 6 of 7 from behind the arc before two last gasp efforts fell short in the dying seconds.

Despite a brief lead with just over six minutes left to play, the effort of the chase, and the use of only six players, proved too tiring for the Rocks, and Newcastle, as always seems to be the case, managed to find the extra gear, helped by clinical free throw shooting in pressure situations and ran out four point winners.

As a fan, in many ways it is a difficult game to evaluate. Do we get down beat because of the defeat and the second quarter performance, or do we feel confident and proud over the valiant, yet ultimately futile comeback? Personally, I’m in the second camp. Twice in the last month we have played Newcastle and lost in a close game despite giving away 20 point runs. Despite the defeat, this performance does show that we do have what it takes to beat the Eagles if we can just play hard for the full 40 minutes, instead of the 30 it was on Sunday.

Next up we have the winless Guilford Heat at the Kelvin Hall in the last home game before Christmas and a chance to not only bounce back quickly with a win, but also a chance to see a slew of former Rocks stars with Mike Copeland having united with Julius Joseph and Michael Martin. It’s sure to be a cracker.

Let’s Rocks!

Callum Carson