Derby Storm ensured Edinburgh Rocks crashed out of the NTL National Cup in ignominious fashion, their 86-59 defeat of the Scots in the first round of the competition  compounding the woes of coach Greg Lockridge.

It was a miserable performance in every respect for the Scots, who
were completely out-performed by the Midlands outfit who were themselves winless going into the tie. The contest was close in the opening stages, Storm leading at 11-8 midway through the first period but the hosts swiftly strangled any hopes Edinburgh had of repeating their semi-final advancement of last year.

Taking advantage of the Rocks defensive frailties, Derby ran off 19
points without reply leading up to the first interval, an advantage
which they underlined with a 9-2 start to the second quarter. With Iain
Maclean in foul trouble and Chris Junge an anonymous figure in the face
of the hosts' physical front line, there was to be no revival from the
visitors.

Ahead 48-27 at half-time, Kevin Wall's men ran up points at will, their
latest signing Barry Bowman scoring freely on the way to a game-best 28 points. 

Former Rocks guard Joel Burns added 21, and it was his pair of three pointers early in the final period which maximised the home lead
at 30 points, a cushion which was only briefly dented when Lockridge's
humbled troops ran up ten without reply, a rally which came far, far too
late.

"It was our worst performance to date, no question," admitted Lockridge.
"We're still at the drawing board. We turned the ball over, we didn't
rebound, the energy wasn't there. Certainly the double overtime game we
played against Brighton, and the fatigue that caused was a factor. We
have to address the problems that we have now. If things cannot happen
with this group of personnel, I have to make moves to rectify that."

Wall was also rewarded from an impressive debut from Panamanian centre Antonio Garcia who compiled a dominating tally of 10 points and 14 rebounds.