Leopards hit by Rocks shower
Mark Woods
Edinburgh Rocks showed that their fortnight's lay-off from basketball competition was a positive tonic last night, defeating London Leopards 72-69 at Brentwood. The Scots' fourth victory in eight games in the Dairylea Dunkers Championship came at the end of a see-saw battle which saw the Rocks score the final six points of the game to take home the points.
John McCord looked back to his best, scoring a game high 23 points as the Rocks took control of the contest early on. Leading 20-9 in the first quarter, they held their hosts at bay with some neat inter-play to build a 16 point half-time advantage.
At that point the Rocks' only worry was an eye wound to Michael New, which kept the captain off the floor for several minutes. But as so often happens, Edinburgh's fortunes suffered a critical dip in the third period, their hosts hitting the first eight points before levelling the contest at 55-55. However, trailing 69-66 with two minutes left, Jim Brandon's side gained a crucial three point score from Joel Burns before McCord's final basket near the finish.
"Our guys showed a lot of character to come back and win after being 18 points up and then seven down," said Brandon, full of praise for his team. "We ran the floor well and played with heart, with Stuart Mackay stepping in for Mike and making his prescence felt."
Edinburgh face an arguably tougher task on Sunday afternoon at Meadowbank when runaway Southern Conference leaders Birmingham Bullets travel northward.
Leopards were led by 21 points from Kenya Capers ,which included five from outside the arc, but his team missed the chance to leapfrog Thames Valley into second place in the south as both Peter Deppisch and Jason Kimbrough saw their final shots failed to find the net.
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