Team Newcastle 79 v 81 Reading Rockets
The Rockets travelled to Newcastle University on Sunday evening to face Team Newcastle in their second NBL D1 fixture of the weekend. After a dominant showing on Saturday, Reading were faced with stiffer competition against Newcastle and still with a depleted team as Tyler Cartaino remains injured with a hamstring injury and A J Basi has a season ending Achilles injury, but overcame their fatigue and withstood a late-game surge to secure a tough, well deserved victory.
Both offenses looked sharp from the outset, with Sam Toluwase earning the first points of the contest on a tough turnaround jumper before Newcastle’s Brandon Federici and David Moya each drained a three to chalk up six for the University. Meshack Lufile, primed to have a field day against Newcastle’s guard-heavy rotations, was soon on the board through a layup. He was quick to make use of his size advantage to help get Reading’s shooters going too, kicking out to an open Lewis Champion for three after Jaz Bains knocked down a long ball of his own. Newcastle were able to force a number of turnovers, generating fastbreak points and keeping the score close as the quarter wore on. After a rare Meshack three swept through the net, however, the Rockets began to pick up the pace and knocked down two more threes through Reis Pinnock and Lewis Champion. Newcastle weathered the late storm well, getting the ball inside for layups and free throws and leaning on the mid-range shot making of Federici to close out the quarter down just four points with the Rockets up 24-20. After hitting 5 trebles in the opening quarter.
Rockets young academy players were making good contributions as Meshack kicked off the second period with a trademark defensive play, blocking a jump shot and gathering a board after Newcastle’s next missed effort. Isaac Round connected from three for the Rockets’ first points of the quarter. Both teams soon slowed up offensively, leaning on layups and free throws as they worked through the second quarter. It took until the halfway mark of the quarter for the scoring to heat up, with Newcastle converting a second-chance effort before Lufile scored inside to put the Rockets back up by four. Federici made two threes soon after as Meshack continued to apply pressure inside, each leading their teams in scoring as halftime approached. Toluwase made a timely layup off of a Ben Dixon assist to break a 34-34 tie, but Newcastle were quick to equalize and kept the scores level until late in the half. With 90 seconds to go, Meshack grabbed two offensive boards to force a score inside and made a layup on the very next play to put the Rockets back up by four. His impressive block on a Federici dunk attempt then sent the Rockets down searching for a final score before the half and Jaz Bains delivered, draining a three before a Meshack free throw sent the Rockets up 45-38 at the break. Rockets had found themselves on the wrong side of the officiating team with a 12-3 foul count.
Three turnovers at the start of the third had the Rockets under pressure to open the half, but Newcastle failed to convert their active defense into points on offense. Reis Pinnock worked his way inside on back-to-back plays for a putback score and a driving layup. Jaz Bains, still running hot after his outrageous shooting performance in Saturday’s fixture, soon delivered yet another three-pointer to put the Rockets 13 points clear 53-40 with six minutes to go in the quarter. Despite looking strong up to this point, the Rockets offense failed to produce any points for nearly five minutes after they earned their 13-point lead, turning the ball over five times during the slump. Newcastle were finally able to capitalize on their disruptive defense, taking the lead with a 14-0 run (at 54-53) that featured threes from Moya, Yabantu and Federici before Pinnock stopped the bleeding with a desperately needed three of his own. Meshack converted two at the line as the quarter ended for a tentative four-point lead, entering the final period with the Rockets up 58-54.
Bains and Federici exchanged threes at the top of the fourth quarter, setting the tone for what would be a back-and-forth shootout down the stretch. Newcastle’s Yabantu and Ben Dixon were next to trade baskets, each earning two for their team before Jaz connected from three once more to put Reading up by seven. Meshack converted a tough and-one off of Champion’s inside dime but Moya and Martyn Gayle each delivered long-range buckets for Newcastle to cut the lead to just two. With just five minutes left, the Rockets kept feeding Lufile and he justified their trust with a jump shot and layup that kept Newcastle at bay. With four minutes on the clock and the game level on 73 apiece, Rockets went cold once again, missing multiple looks inside while Newcastle connected on yet more three-pointers to go up by three with under two minutes left. With the prospect of a late-game collapse looming and momentum firmly against them, Rockets looked once more to Jaz and Meshack, the two architects of their success earlier in the game. Jaz stole the ball and quickly shipped it to the big man for another and-one, which he duly converted to level the score and cap a personal ten-point run. Reading flipped the script on Newcastle, who had wreaked havoc with active hands and deflected balls throughout the match, as Champion grabbed a steal of his own and took it inside for free throws, both of which he made for a two-point lead. With just 20 seconds to go, the Rockets clamped up defensively to force a 24 second violation and win back the ball, earning another point at the line before one last steal and fastbreak score put them clear by five with just four seconds left. Martyn Gayle made another three as time ran out but it was too little too late for a gutsy Newcastle side who ultimately fell to the Rockets with a final score in favour of Rockets by 81-79.
A much closer affair than Saturday’s game, Newcastle challenged the Rockets from all over the court in an even and entertaining display of NBL basketball. Reading looked excellent early but stalled badly in the third quarter, opening the door for Newcastle to make a late run carried by the exceptional shotmaking of Brandon Federici, who had 26 points on 6/8 shooting from three. His duel with Meshack brought out the very best of the Rockets’ interior talisman, who registered an outstanding line of 29pt, 11rb and 4 blocks. It was just that kind of night for the big man, who even tacked on a three for good measure and went 6/7 from the line, putting the league on notice that he can do much more than just bang down low. Jaz Bains was instrumental in the victory, making five threes just as he did against Loughborough the previous day and racking up three crucial steals whilst Reis Pinnock had a double double with 12 pts and 10 rebounds.. Though more reliant on individual performances than in Saturday’s game, the Rockets still put on a strong collective performance; six players tallied at least three assists and the team worked well on defense to force a decisive shot clock violation as the game drew to a close. Winning back-to-back road games is no mean feat, let alone on consecutive days, and the Rockets have plenty to smile about going into a well-earned week of rest.
Written by Jamie King