Rowe steals the show as Raiders beat depleted Rocks

Anthony Rowe was the star man at the Kelvin Hall on Sunday with a spectacular 20 point and 20 rebound performance as the Raiders erased memories of their BBL Cup Final defeat two days previously with a 71-60 victory over the Glasgow Rocks.

The win kept alive the Raiders slight chance of being crowned league champions, while the Rocks are clinging on to fifth place following a second consecutive home defeat against top four opposition, and fourth consecutive defeat in total. More worryingly, perhaps, for the Rocks is the fact that they have failed to score more than 60 points in each of the last two games, something that had not occurred all season prior to the visit of Leicester last weekend. Coach Davis, however, believes that it was just one of those days on the offensive side of the ball, stating that ‘today we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. I thought we had some good open looks and the shots just didn’t fall for us.’ It would be difficult to argue otherwise, given the fact that his side shot just 28%. Coach Davis and Danny Huffor, recently called up to the Scotland squad, were the main culprits, going 2-for-20 combined.

The sheer dominance of Rowe didn’t help either. The big man had claimed an unbelievable seven rebounds inside the first five minutes of the game as Plymouth raced out to an early lead before being pegged back by a dogged Glasgow side that were buoyed by the somewhat unexpected return of Mychal Green. The 29 year old appeared to be a game time decision, with Sterl commenting that ‘at the beginning of the game Mike said he was feeling pretty good and he was ready to go. That was one of those times when I have to just listen to the player.’

In fairness, Green didn’t appear to miss a beat during an impressive first half display, but come the fourth quarter the Green Machine seemed to be slightly hampered, although he still racked up 38 minutes of game time along with a team high 15 points.

The first half was a very scrappy, physical affair, in part due to the number of contested rebounds due to both teams shooting the ball poorly. The Rocks had all the momentum going into half-time, coming back from four points down in the final three minutes to take a one point half-time lead at 31-30.

As has so often been the case for Glasgow this season, however, they had one bad quarter that ultimately gave them too much of a mountain to climb. In the opening exchanges of the second half you could have been forgiven for believing it was the Rocks that had had an energy sapping final two days beforehand and not their opponents as the Raiders came out all guns blazing. An 11-0 run in the opening three and a half minutes, thanks in large part to the hard work in the paint by Rowe and the passing of reigning MVP Jeremy Bell, gave the away side a lead they would not relinquish.

Despite the return of Green, the Rocks were still missing their veteran leader in E.J. Harrison, with the obvious effect being that the short-handed bench meant the starting five played more minutes than Coach Davis may have liked. Indeed the Rocks bench accounted for just five points, all from Danny Huffor, and slightly over 30 minutes of court time, 24 of which were for the Scotland international. Plymouth, on the other hand, were able to keep their squad fresh, their bench combining for 52 minutes, allowing them to have the upper hand come the final stages of the game.

Every time the Rocks would reduce the deficit, back came the Raiders to restore their double digit advantage and Plymouth went into the final stanza with a richly deserved 53-44 lead.

The final quarter was a much more even affair, although yet again the Rocks seemed to be sleeping offensively in the opening three minutes as Gavin Love’s men padded their advantage to a game high 14 points less than ninety second in on a breakaway converted by Colbert. Exciting rookie Jonny Bunyan entered for the Rocks but he was unable to spark a revival as the Raiders defence quickly harassed and hurried the youngster whenever he was given the ball.

With the result a formality inside the last couple of minutes all that was left was for Plymouth captain to notch the two points needed to claim a remarkable 20-20 performance.