Meldrum's hot hand sparks Tigers comeback
Thames Valley Tigers did their chances of progressing to the quarter final rounds of the uni-ball Trophy no end of good, coming out on top in a see-saw finish with Edinburgh Rocks for a 71-74 victory at Meadowbank.
In a game in which both sides had the opportunity to close off the win at various points, it was Tigers who finished strongest, bouncing back from an earlier nine point deficit to pull of a decisive 2-10 spurt in the final quarter.
Nonetheless, the Scots battled until the end as consecutive three pointers from Ted Berry and a further one from Joel Burns cut the visitor's lead to just 69-71 with 1:03 remaining. But a trey from Casey Arena re-asserted his side's advantage and although ex-Tigers favourite John McCord hit a late pair from the line, it was not enough to stop his side's own first loss in the competition.
"We came out from the word go to give us more intensity and speed and our guys played hard for each other," praised Tigers coach Paul James, whose side go to 2-1 in the group.
The Southern Conference side had started much the better, hitting 11 straight points in the opening quarter to lead 6-15 as the hosts struggled to make their shots. But Jim Brandon's side rebounded, hitting the last seven points of the period before compiled a 18-4 streak at the start of the second.
On form Greg Meldrum notched a three pointer to bring his side back to 33-30 at the close of the half and his tandem with Tony Christie eventually hauled the Tigers into the lead with a 0-8 run at the end of the third quarter.
Decisively, Jason Siemon was upstaging Brendan Graves in the battle of the centres, the Thames Valley man en route to 20 points and he hit four in a 2-10 run which appeared to have secured the game at 60-69 with just a few minutes left.
The late three point shower left the game balanced but when the buzzer sounded belatedly , the game referee was forced to order that an extra 3.1 seconds be played at the finish. Brandon's time out left his team with the last possession but McCord failed to shoot or pass in time to deny his former club their second win over his new employers this season.
James explained afterward why he had decided to remove Billy Singleton from the starting line up, replacing him with Martin Gottfried. And he insisted it is a move he may repeat on Saturday when the Rocks visit Bracknell.
"We've had our problems, some in-fighting and if that means changing the starting five, then so be it. If we can win games that way, we'll carry on with that. Saturday will be a huge game because we fell if we get one, maybe two more wins, we'll get through.
Meldrum's fine shooting gave him 20 points, a tally matched by Rocks leader Ted Berry.
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