Glasgow Rocks sustained another damaging blow to their British Basketball League title ambitions last night after sliding to a 70-67 loss to rivals London Lions at the Copper Box Arena.

Neil Watson hit a team-high 25 points for the Scots who raced nine clear in the second quarter before leading 38-33 at half-time. However a 10-0 run in the third period took London ahead before Gareth Murray was disqualified early in the fourth. And eventually the Rocks came up short as first Watson, then Hayden Lescault, saw desperate late three-point attempts which would have forced overtime miss the target.

After meekly coming off second-best to Newcastle in last weekend’s BBL Cup final, it was a marginal improvement from Sterling Davis’ men but five defeats in six games attest to a decreasing lack of coherence and punctures to their previously buoyant levels of confidence.

A 13-4 run from Glasgow saw them take control in the opening period but while their defence frequently held firm, it could only mask their offensive struggles so far. Lescault, Anthony Elechi and Jonny Bunyan were a combined 2-for-18 from field goal range and although Kieron Achara added ten points and nine rebounds, London – paced by 28 from Zaire Taylor – did just enough to hold off a late Rocks retort.

The Rocks, who slip to fourth place in the standings, now host Manchester Giants tomorrow with Davis ready to urge his team to be on their guard against the strugglers who they thrashed 90-56 on the opening day of the season.

“Manchester have gotten better since the last time we saw them,” said Davis. “They’ve added Mike Creppy who gives them an extra scoring option and while they might be struggling in terms of wins and losses, we saw how they pushed Newcastle to the last possession a couple of weeks ago.

“In this league, you can’t go in with the mindset that any win is given. Newcastle beat us. They almost beat Newcastle. So we have to be prepared for anything which means no room for mental lapses.”

Elsewhere, leaders Newcastle suffered only their third league loss as Worcester Wolves pulled off a 112-103 upset behind 21 points from Scotland cap Danny Huffor. While Plymouth Raiders rallied from 16 down in the fourth quarter to eventually beat Bristol Flyers 103-98 in overtime.

RESULTS

BBL. London Lions 70 Glasgow Rocks 67, Bristol Flyers 98 Plymouth Raiders 103 OT, Newcastle Eagles 103 Worcester Wolves 112