Rocks finish regular season with professional victory over Wildcats

On the last day of the 2011/2012 BBL regular season the Glasgow Rocks made sure of a winning record by beating the Durham Wildcats 87-66 at the Kelvin Hall on Sunday evening. The triumph gave the Rocks a 16-14 record, while the Wildcats finished their inaugural season in the BBL with a 3-27 record that somewhat belies the talent and fighting spirit that they have shown throughout the year.

In a game that had a distinctly end of season feel to it, Rocks coach Sterling Davis saw it as an opportunity to rotate his squad so as to keep his key players fresh for their trip to Plymouth on Thursday for the first leg of their play-off quarter final tie.

Prior to the game, Rocks guard Mychal Green was presented with the team MVP award, voted for by the fans, something that the 29 year old admitted was a tremendous honour, commenting that ‘it makes me feel really good…the fans are the ones that pay money to watch the games and that’s who we play for.’ His coach, meanwhile, was also delighted with the performances of the Green Machine in his first season in Scotland, adding that ‘Mike’s been great for us all year…there’s been times when Mychal’s carried us as a team.’

The Rocks started off the brighter of the two teams, taking an early 8-0 lead thanks to three pointers from Murray and Davis, both of whom shot better than 80% from the field. The Rocks set the tempo early, with hustle defence and a quick breaking offence, and the Wildcats seemed to be unable to cope in the early period. As has been the case all season though, Durham were hardly going to curl up and lie down. David Galvan and Ralph Bucci began to take control of the game, with the duo making some beautiful passes and that Mario Flaherty got on the end of, and eventually the Wildcats eroded the Rocks lead.

With two minutes remaining in the first quarter, the BBL debutants took the lead for the one and only time on the back of two free throws from Flaherty, however the Rocks fought back and closed the quarter out with an 8-3 run to take a 23-19 lead into the second stanza.

Coach Davis decided to go to his bench on a more regular basis than usual, giving the likes of Malnieks and Richards a decent amount of game time, while Huffor led the game with 21 points. That, in many ways, proved the difference between the two sides. Glavan and Bucci, in particular, are an outstanding duo, and the Wildcats have three or four players that could earn respectable game time in any team in the BBL, but they simply lack the depth and the experience at this level when they have to go to the bench, while the Rocks were able to bring on the likes of Huffor and Wedemire.

The second quarter seemed something of a three point contest for Durham as Bucci and Glavan nailed two a piece, but ultimately they couldn’t stop the Rocks at the other end of the court as the home team dominated the rebound battle and opened up a ten point advantage on the back of Sterl’s neat lay-up in traffic with 1:27 remaining in the half. As in the first quarter, however, Durham fought back, and behind the arc bombs from Glavan and Bucci, the latter coming at the buzzer, narrowed the lead to just three points going into the half-time break.

In the second-half, however, it was all one way traffic. The Rocks started the third quarter with a two pointer from Davis followed by a terrific court length pass from DeAundrae Cranston (of all people) to a wide open Gareth Murray for an easy two.

With Durham having played what Coach Elderkin admitted was an energy sapping game the night before, a valiant defeat to the Guildford Heat, it was perhaps no surprise that the Rocks, with their deeper and more talented bench, eventually ran out comfortable winners. But that is to take nothing away from the effort and determination of the Wildcats team, who clearly gave it their all throughout the game.

The Rocks raced out to a ten point lead, for the second time in the game, with three minutes left of the third quarter, but yet again, the Wildcats fought back and reduced the deficit to a single basket, before a three pointer from veteran guard E.J. Harrison and a pair of two pointers from Danny Huffor opened the gap back up to double figures heading into the final quarter.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they fell apart in the fourth as the Rocks eventually ran out winners by 21 points. Coach Davis was adamant after the game, however, that the Wildcats had been a terrific credit to the league, stating that ‘I’ve always thought highly of them since the first time that we played them,’ before further adding that ‘I think they will only improve.’

With the game in the bag, Davis threw on Bunyan, Malnieks and Richards at the death, and it was the 27 year old guard Richards that provided the fans with one last breathtaking moment was he came from seemingly nowhere to reject a Wildcats basket inside the final minute, before going down the other end of the court and nailing a two pointer. With Davis having commented that he would like to keep on to the entire roster for next season, Richards certainly would have done himself no harm with that effort.

While we say goodbye to Durham for the 2011/2012 campaign, the Rocks face the Plymouth Raiders in the first round of the play-offs, with the first leg being on the south coast on Thursday before the return fixture at the Kelvin Hall on Sunday. Both Coach Davis and team MVP Mychal Green were adamant that while Plymouth may have had the better of the Rocks this season, it’s a whole new ball game in the play-offs.