Giants punish off key Rocks
Edinburgh Rocks slumped to a disappointing 59-72 defeat to Manchester Giants at Meadowbank yesterday, the Scots third loss in six Dairylea Dunkers Championship basketball games so far. Now the Northern Conference leaders, Manchester were repeatedly gifted possession by an out of sorts Rocks side and they capitalised to construct a decisive advantage in the third quarter.
Defeated coach Jim Brandon admitted that his team had not performed at even close to their best but refused to attribute the result to Manchester's greater strength in depth
"We just looked out of sorts today and we didn't get going in the second half. We knew what we had to do and I took comfort that we played badly in the first half and still led. We didn't look sharp. In fact we looked almost jaded."
It had looked so different in the early stages for the hosts who racked up all but one of the first eleven points. Giants hit back to acquire the lead right at the end of the opening period but Ted Berry keyed a 8-2 finish to the first half, the last score a buzzer-beating hail mary shot from the half-way line, which gave the Scots a 34-33 advantage at the change of ends.
However Manchester's strength to date in this campaign has come from the variety of weapons at their disposal and no less than four players contributed to a 2-13 third quarter run which ultimately placed the game beyond Edinburgh's reach, despite a game leading haul of 20 points from John McCord.
"In my eyes, it's no shame to lose to Sheffield or Manchester but for the guys, it's a wake up call," added Brandon. "That's the first time though that we've succumbed to a team that way. That was a bad performance as far as having dignity walking off the court."
Giants balanced team was underlined in their scoring leaders, Tony Dorsey hitting 19, Travis Conlan 15 and Roy Hairston notching 14. Ted Berry added 19 for the Rocks.
Copyright Britball. Download is subject to Britball's Terms of Service.