Another year, another final, another defeat for Glasgow Rocks. Scotland’s premier basketball outfit must wonder if they have been cursed after being picked apart by Newcastle Eagles in yesterday’s BBL Cup final in Birmingham, a 91-83 loss that prolongs the club’s 14-year wait for a major trophy.
For their fans, it was the hope that was the killer. Ten points ahead before the pre-game hoopla had died down, Sterling Davis’ men had every right to feel emboldened. However Newcastle, paced by a game-best 29 points from the game’s Most Valuable Player Rahmon Fletcher, ruthlessly snuffed out such optimism to secure this prize for the third successive year and extended their winning streak over their cross-border rivals to an astonishing 18 games over almost five years.
Glasgow could point to an ankle injury to Hayden Lescault that prohibited the American guard from practising for the past week and forced him into cameos in reserve. However much of the regression that truly took hold in the second quarter was self-inflicted, easy openings missed, offensive rebounds passed up and, critically, a failure to match the aggression of Newcastle’s attack with defensive obduracy of their own.
A 13-1 run from the holders swung momentum as the Rocks missed seven shots in a row and then ten further unanswered points widened the gap to 50-32 at half-time. The margin kept increasing, to as much as 72-49 at the end of the third period before a 12-2 start to the fourth from Glasgow restored a little respectability. And while Neil Watson, who scored 28 points, drained a three with 33 seconds left to eventually bring the Scots within seven, the rally not enough, and far too late, as their ninth consecutive loss in a major final was confirmed.
“I didn’t like the score at half-time – giving up 50,” Davis admitted. “Anytime you do that – especially against Newcastle – it means we’re not defending the way we should and how we’ve been accustomed to defending. Those runs will hurt you down the stretch. Once again, I credit my guys for not giving up and trying to extend it for as long as possible. But the deficit we built ourselves was hard to come back from.”
Earlier, Manchester Mystics were the inaugural winners of the WBBL Cup by beating Nottingham Wildcats 71-60. Great Britain forward Dominique Allen, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds, was the game’s MVP.
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