Rocks bounce back to beat Wolves

Glasgow Rocks recovered from their fourth quarter collapse in the BBL Cup on Friday night in Sheffield to fend off a resilient Worcester Wolves side 85-79.

Starting Fives

Glasgow Rocks: Harrison, Robinson, Murray, Davis, Achara
Worcester Wolves: Owumi, Fernandez, Thomson, Ocitti, Masiulis

Wolves started the brighter of the two teams and came with a definite game-plan to pound the ball inside from the outset, with man-mountain Arturas Masiulis going to work in the post against GB international Kieron Achara and causing him a number of problems – in three possessions Masiulis had notched up three shots, five points and had drawn a foul against Achara.

Rocks kept their composure, however, and started playing their kind of basketball – drawing fouls and forcing turnovers on the defensive end, which allowed them to expose the Wolves’ lack of back-court depth by hitting them on the fast break – and began to dominate.

Wily Rocks’ guard EJ Harrison was using all of his experience to keep Wolves’ talisman Alex Owumi in check, and with much of the Wolves team struggling from the floor the Rocks were able to put together a 25-7 run that gave them 23-12 lead at the end of the first period, with only a few big shots from the Wolves keeping them in touch.

A change to zone defense from the Wolves allowed them to put together their own run, pulling it back to 27-21 halfway through the period. Both teams were struggling from the floor and flashbacks of Friday night’s capitulation were no doubt running through the minds of the Rocks fans, but the team hung in to lead 36-28 at the half.

The BBL Tweeted at half time that “Somebody needs to turn the heating on at the Emirates Arena – Rocks shooting 31%, Wolves 34% through the 1st half” and maybe somebody was listening, as the tempo increased and players started knocking down shots; two triples from Stanley Ocitti were cancelled out by two from Donald Robinson, before Sterling Davis and EJ Harrison found their range. Robinson then injected some much-needed excitement with a fast-break dunk that stretched the Rocks’ lead to 16 points half-way through the period.

Wolves had abandoned their earlier game plan of pounding the ball inside, thanks to some physical D by Davis – who was clearly relishing the banging down in the post – and resorted to launching three balls. While they’d been having limited success from range Arnas Kazlauskas – a man who’s ugly but unbelievably efficient shot typifies what you’d expect from a 7ft Lithuanian “chucker” – suddenly got hot and cut the lead to just 8 through back-to-back triples. A chippy end to the period and the return of some cold Wolves shooting saw the Rocks head in with a 59-47 lead.

Wolves opened the scoring to start the fourth, but any thoughts the Rocks fans had of another collapse were swiftly dispelled with a Kieron Achara four point play that halted any Wolves momentum and extended the lead to 63-49 a minute in to the quarter. Kazlauskas and Ocitti continued to keep the Wolves in touching distance with some big shots, but the result was never in doubt and the Rocks eased to an 85-79 win.

Play of the game was Robinson’s steal and slam, for no reason other than it got the crowd into it and injected some much needed life into a scrappy game. Owen McNally’s hustle in diving for a loose ball near the end of the game when the Rocks were up big also rates.

While Sterling Davis will get the plaudits for an efficient 20pts on 6/9 shooting, he was posted missing on a few defensive rotations so MVP goes to EJ Harrison. While he didn’t have the best of nights offensively (it didn’t seem as bad as the 5/15 shooting suggests) EJ did a great job defensively to shut down Owumi, force turnovers and was the heartbeat of the Rocks’ side. For the Wolves, Stanley Ocitti was very efficient in notching up 26 points and 9 rebounds.

EJ Harrison – 15 points, 4 assists, 3 steals
Stanley Ocitti – 26 points, 9 rebounds

Next for the Rocks – Lions home 11th November
Next for the Wolves – Cheshire home 10th November