Inconsistent Rocks show the good, the bad and the ugly

Somehow the Glasgow Rocks managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory last at the Kelvin Hall on Sunday after throwing away a 17 point lead midway through the 3rd quarter to fall to the Cheshire Jets in an enthralling encounter.

Coming off a two week break, the home side dominated the proceedings early on with some neat passing and effective finishing that saw them take a six point lead at the end of the first period, although, in truth, the gap would have been much larger had it not been for the Jets dominance on the boards. Despite not having a significant height advantage, the Jets seemed to be bringing everything down, in particular star man Schneck. They were able to limit the second chance opportunities for the Rocks, which proved crucial come the final buzzer.

DeAundrae Cranston and Andrew Wedemire, who have rarely been the go-to guys for Glasgow this season, were at the top of their game early on and finished as the two highest scorers for their side with 20 and 16 points respectively. After the game, Coach Davis admitted that it was difficult to take the duo out, commenting that ‘it was better to let these guys keep rolling.’ In truth, the Jets lack of defensive hustle and pressure made it easy for the Rocks to gain momentum during the early exchanges, and if the Jets coaches said anything to their team in between quarters, it certainly didn’t work as the Rocks eased through the next stanza also. Indeed, the lack of intensity and physicality in the Cheshire play was evident in the fact that they gave up just one foul in the entire first half.

Despite the Rocks defence itself being posted missing on a few occasions, they still appeared to be cruising to a tenth league victory of the season, and with under six minutes left in the third quarter they were comfortably ahead, at 56-39. Then it all went ugly.

For what seems like the umpteenth time this season, the Rocks gave up a 20 point run in a 10 minute spell. Twice against the Eagles, Glasgow have lost games on 25-2 and 25-4 runs, while against Plymouth just three weeks ago the Raiders went on a 30-8 in the fourth quarter to clinch victory on that occasion. At the Kelvin Hall on Sunday, the Jets went on a 31-9 run that stretched over nine minutes in the third and fourth quarters. Colin O’Reilly starting nailing the three pointers, William Brown dominated the guard battle and Matt Schneck at centre suddenly discovered that it was actually fine to play with a bit of bite and aggression. Simply put, the Jets started to dominate on all fronts and the Rocks had no answer. It also tends to help in basketball when the shots drop too, and they certainly did do as Cheshire scored a breathtaking 21 points in the final 5:50 of the third quarter.

Coach Davis admitted after the game that if the Rocks want to make waves in the play-offs then they will need to stop their tendency to switch off for long periods, and when questioned as to whether it was a mental problem with his players, he commented that it was ‘frustrating to see the potential that we have and the type of team we can be, then to take the foot off the gas.’ He also voiced his frustration at the way the defence played in the third quarter that ultimately allowed the Jets to close, and then obliterate, the Rocks advantage.

With the Jets having tied the game by the end of the third quarter, the final ten minutes was tight, intense, and, to use Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous phrase, it was squeaky bum time. Two triples from Danny Huffor kept the Rocks close, while Murray, who scored a disappointing five points against his former team, nailed a deep three pointer to tie the game at 73-73 with 1.07 left to play. At which point, Brown stepped up, going 5-of-6 from the free throw line up claiming an assist on a two pointer from Bill Cole, with 28 ticks left on the clock that gave the Jets a lead they didn’t relinquish. Andrew Wedemire’s spectacular half court shot at the buzzer was all in vain and the Jets ran out 80-78 victors to claim their sixth victory of the league campaign.