MATCH REPORT: Rocks roll into Scottish invitational final

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Report by Alan Caldwell / Photos by Chris Cox

Glasgow Rocks continued their preparations ahead of the 2021/22 BBL season with a fast-paced win against St. Mirren in the semi-final of the Scottish Invitational.

Despite the Rocks coming away with the win in this contest, it was the Saints who started off the first quarter in better shape after taking a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes, despite the Rocks new American signing Jordan Harris, previously at the Georgia Bulldogs opening the scoring with an emphatic dunk off the lob.

The Rocks slowly started to come back into the contest in the second half of the quarter as a three-pointer from Ali Fraser and Jonny Bunyan along with other Rocks scoring cut the Saints lead back down to just three with the score now sitting at 18-21.

Jonny Bunyan followed that up with a floater in the lane after driving past the St. Mirren defence which cut the lead down to just two before Ali Fraser, returning from the Leicester Riders, hit a long corner two tying the game up at 24 apiece.

The second quarter started off well for the Rocks as another new signing, Jaycee Hilsman got an offensive rebound which he then converted for the layup, giving the Rocks their first lead of the game since the opening few baskets. This aggression continued at the start of the second quarter as Rocks big-man Boban Jacdonmi converted a driving layup which drew a foul which he was unable to convert.

The first five minutes of the second quarter saw the Rocks continuing to dominate in the game as they held St. Mirren to just two points whilst scoring 19 themselves, opening up a 43-26 lead for Rocks.

The final five minutes of the second quarter weren’t much different as back-to-back threes from Jonny Bunyan and Fraser Malcolm gave the Rocks a 23 point lead. Going into the interval Rocks remained on top, looking like a certainty that they would book their place in tomorrow’s final against the Falkirk Fury, where both Jonny Bunyan and Ali Fraser used to play. At half-time the Rocks lead 58-31 over St. Mirren.

Going into the second half, Rocks continued to play free-flowing basketball and were at a dominating position of leading 74-37 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Heading into the fourth quarter the scoring slowed down for both teams, however, again it was Rocks who continued to push out their lead as threes from Fraser Malcolm and Jordan Harris put the Rocks up 83-42 going into the final quarter, with this game already wrapped up as far as a contest goes.

The game ended with the Rocks beating St. Mirren 108-56, rolling on to the Scottish Invitational final tomorrow for a 5 pm tipoff against the Falkirk Fury.

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