Rocks dig a hole too deep despite heroic comeback - Callum Carson
Posted on December 6th, 2011 by
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