Rocks labour to outrun persistent Jets
Edinburgh Rocks booked their passage through to the quarter finals of the Sainsbury's Classic Cola Cup with a 96-83 victory over Chester Jets at Meadowbank yesterday.
However for the second weekend in succession, Jim Brandon's side were forced to labour extremely hard by a tenacious Jets who refused to lie down and accept defeat until the final buzzer.
Leading Rocks light John McCord hit a match-best 30 points and 10 rebounds but even he admitted that his opponents seem to have found a way to stifle the Rocks firepower.
" We thought of this game as play-off game because if you lose, you're out. My previous two years, I made it to the semi-final and won the National Cup so I didn't want an early exit and thankfully for the team, I played well."
The Scots held a narrow advantage for much of the contest, trailing only briefly midway through the first half. Neither side was truly able to summon their best shooting form but the defensive intensity which was in abundance meant that the fouls and bonus shots mounted up at a rapid pace.
McCord sparked a 8-2 spurt which gave the hosts the lead for good and from then on, Chester were caught in a game of catch up. Behind 47-40 at half time, the visitors persisted but could not pull off a rally to reduce Edinburgh's advantage to less than the six point gap at 58-52.
Seven straight Rocks points extended the home advantage to 15 at the mid point of the second half but even a pair of exquisite dunks by first McCord and then Iain Maclean failed to invigorate a strangely subdued home crowd.
The lead was too great for even the off-key Scots to lose and they duly joined Manchester, London, Leopards, Sheffield, Brighton and Milton Keynes in the last eight draw.
Coach Brandon however remained critical of the overall performance of his side.
"It wasn't a particularly great performance, compounded by injuries and foul trouble. Like last year, inconsistencies are still stopping us from being a truly great team."
Greg Francis hit 24 for Chester with Kyle Ivey-Jones on 20.
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