BBL: Rocks tame Lions at home

Glasgow Rocks moved themselves into sixth position in the BBL Championship table thanks to a come-from-behind 87-73 victory over the London Lions at the Emirates Arena on Sunday afternoon.

A 7-2 start to the game from the Rocks gave them the best possible opening to the contest, and an EJ Harrison three-pointer allowed the home side to extend their lead out to 15-9 with 3:47 remaining in the opening quarter. This only served to spur the Lions on as a Laurent Irish free-throw sparked a 14-0 run for the visitors to leave them leading 15-23 heading into the second period.

In the second quarter, it was the home side who again started strongly and consecutive three-pointers from Harrison, Kieron Achara and Sterling Davis bought the home side back to within two points at 26-28. Once again however, this only sought to spur the Lions into action as they ended the half the stronger with an 11-2 tear to leave the visitors 30-39 to the good heading into the locker rooms at the half.

In the second half, the Rocks exploded out of the blocks with a 15-4 start to the third quarter to put themselves ahead at 45-43 with 6:03 remaining. The lead changed hands on a number of occasions through the remainder of the quarter before an Adrian Sturt three-pointer gave the Lions the lead at 55-59. This time it was the home side who ended the period the better as a Donald Robinson three-point play saw the Rocks heading into the final stanza trailing by a single point at 60-61.

In the final period, the Rocks came out of the blocks quickly and rattled off a quick-fire 16-5 burst, including seven points from Gareth Murray, to take the score out to 76-66 midway through the final period. The Lions tried desperately to get themselves back into the contest, but could not get any closer than seven points at 76-69 with 5:02 left in the game as the Rocks held on for the important victory.

Robinson was the main man for the Rocks as he bagged 18 points in the victory, but it was Sturt who led all scorers in the contest with 22 points personal for the Lions.