Lethargic Rocks slump to disappointing defeat
In a display that frustrated head coach Sterling Davis described as ‘rusty’ the Glasgow Rocks slumped to a surprising 89-75 defeat to a Mersey Tigers side that came up to Glasgow having failed to win on the road this season. The Tigers had lost to Leicester just two nights previously, a loss that was their eight reverse in a row, while the Rocks were playing for the first time since their lopsided defeat to Newcastle over a fortnight ago.
In their first home game of 2012, Coach Davis admitted that he somewhat expected his troops to be rusty during the games opening minutes. Indeed, both teams were rusty, as six minutes into the game the Tigers were leading 9-4, with both sides missing more than their fair share of simple shots.
Unfortunately for the Rocks faithful, the team were rusty for the entire first three quarters, shooting under 30% and allowing too many open shots on the defensive side of the ball. Despite a much better final ten minutes that brought a slimmer of respectability to the score line, Davis could not hide his disappointment in the performance of the team, saying, in a downbeat tone, that ‘from the rust it seemed like we just weren’t focussed, there was almost a lack of interest in the game’ before stating his disappointment in the inability of his team to respond positively from their early troubles.
Credit must go to Mersey, however, as they were able to shake off some early jitters themselves and their slick passing game, coupled with their defensive pressure, resulted in an admirable performance that belied their lowly record. David Aliu, as is so often the case against Glasgow, was the fulcrum for the Tigers and recorded an impressive 15 points and 5 assists while the ever dangerous Myles Hesson added to his growing reputation with a big double-double.
The Tigers passing ability notwithstanding, it was a scrappy and often poor game, not that Tony Garbelotto and his players will mind too much about that. Mersey raced out to an early 17-8 lead inside the opening eight minutes and never looked back. Glasgow, in truth, never looked capable of mounting a comeback, even at that early stage and produced a frustrating and disappointing three quarters that included Gareth Murray being fouled out following three early fouls in the third quarter after not realising how many fouls he was on. You could say that that summed up the Rocks night. A lack of concentration and interest hurt Glasgow dearly.
With many of his stars carrying injuries, Coach Davis admitted it was a struggle and commented that the fortnight his team waited in between games in many ways didn’t help as he tried to strike a balance between resting the walking wounded and running his training sessions. Davis said that ‘we’ve still got guys with nagging injuries that they’re looking like they’ve just got to play with for the rest of the season.’ Bad news indeed.
Next up for the Rocks is a very tricky double-header next week away to Leicester and a Plymouth side that will no doubt still be licking their wounds after suffering a blowout defeat in the BBL Cup Final against the Eagles last weekend. Davis stated that he will be looking to work on the mental aspects of the game in training this week in an attempt to boost the intensity and effort levels in his team following such a disappointingly lacklustre display. Mersey, on the other hand, face a daunting trip to the north-east to take on the Eagles as they look to kick start their campaign and try to push themselves into a play-off spot.
