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BBL Rocks joy as play-off ticket arrives
Edinburgh Rocks ensured a first ever invitation to British basketball's play-offs after taking the single victory they needed to remove any doubt over their participation in the eight team battle royale on the road to a Wembley final on May 6.
After fluffing their lines at Newcastle on Saturday , the Scots made no mistake yesterday at Meadowbank against Leicester Riders, erasing an 11 point deficit to storm back for a satisfying 90-85 victory which clinched at least a fourth placed finish in the Northern Conference standings.
Coach Jim Brandon was naturally delighted but maintained that the priority remains to end up in third place, avoiding a tricky opening round clash with London Towers.
"These are the sort of games we have to win if we're saying that we want to compete for the Championship and be the best team in Britain," said Brandon.
"It's nice to be in the play-offs but what would really make us happy is to finish third. Everyone said that Derby had that position locked up but we've caught up with them now and we'll hope to make it ours by the end of the regular season."
Ted Berry led the Rocks scoring with 22 including five in a crucial 13-2 third quarter burst which reversed the momentum decisively in his team's favour. The visitors had earlier hit 17 unanswered points around the half-time break but with limited help from their bench, they were unable to maintain that form and lost out in the final five minutes.
Malcolm Leak hit a game high 23 points with his three pointer with 12 seconds left cutting the home lead to 88-85 before Michael New made the game safe from the foul line.
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