Rocks secure third – Tigers secure “The Streak”
The Glasgow Rocks rounded off the 2012-13 BBL Championship campaign with a 90-57 win over the Mersey Tigers.
The result means that the Rocks finished third in the table and will face the Plymouth Raiders in the playoffs. For Mersey, however, it resulted in a winless season as they finished the year with an 0-33 Championship record.
Despite being heavy underdogs it was the Tigers that took the game to the Rocks in the opening exchanges. An irate Sterling Davis called a time-out midway through the first quarter with his team down 11-4 following a sloppy start on both ends of the court.
Whatever he said seemed to do the trick as the Scots went on a 19-1 run to close the first quarter up by 11 on the back of three pointers from Jonny Bunyan and Jamie Vanderbeken.
Bunyan got a season high 16 points, while Andrew Wedemire notched his first double-double of the year, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Gareth Murray led all scorers with 18 points and was presented with the fan’s MVP award prior to the game.
The Tigers worked hard, but were unable to match their more experienced opponents. 19-year-old Jack Hudson thought he had an easy basket midway through the second quarter only for Donald Robinson to come from nowhere with as emphatic a block as you are likely to see.
At the half, the Rocks led by 45-29.
Having played poorly in the opening five minutes of the first half, the Rocks came out of the locker room and failed to find their rhythm again. A 9-2 run for the Tigers gave them a glimmer of hope as they reduced the deficit to 11 points.
The hosts regained control of the game thanks to a 19-6 run, highlighted by Bunyan making yet another three pointer. Entering the final stanza, the Rocks were again comfortably in front, 65-44.
With the playoffs starting this week, Coach Davis was keen to rotate his line-up, with all ten players seeing at least 12 minutes game-time.
In a final act of defiance, Martin Calvo hit Nathan Schall for a spectacular half-court alley-oop in the final minutes of the game, proving that even in defeat the Tigers never gave up. Not to be out done, at the other end Wedemire hit a ferocious dunk following Fantazia’s ninth assist of the game, a team high this season.
A 33 point victory may look good on paper, but Davis and his men will know that they will need to up the ante when they face Plymouth in the playoffs.
Starting Fives
Glasgow – Davis, Robinson, Vanderbeken, Harrison, Murray
Mersey – Hudson, Hulsen, Schall, Calvo, Bigley
Game MVP
Jonny Bunyan – The youngster showed great promise last year, but has seen his minutes reduce this campaign. When given the chance, he flourished with 16 points, two steals and an assist. He went 4-of-5 from behind the arc and 4-of-4 at the line.
Play of the game
What do you do when you’re down by 24 points with under four minutes to go in a winless season? Well, if you’re Martin Calvo, you hit a half-court alley-oop to Nathan Schall, that’s what you do. It was that good, even the home fans applauded.
