Thames Valley Cavaliers 83 V 93 Reading Rockets
In a very tight affair where the teams were tied on 7 occasions, the Rockets defense held supreme in the final quarter to restrict Thames Valley Cavaliers to just 9 points and take the win, despite Cavaliers AJ Roberts hitting 17 points in the last period.
Rockets captain Lewis Champion stroked the Rockets first treble as Christian Alexander does what he does best, score inside with a brace of moves before Champion sunk his second treble. But Cavaliers kept coming, leveling the game twice in the opening exchanges at 10 and 12 points respectively. A Mitch Clarke drive coupled to a Taylan Rowe point from the free throw line saw the Rockets edge the first quarter 19-18.
A 20 points each second period saw Rockets still ahead at the interval 40-39 after a 6-0 Rockets run was crushed by a 14-0 Cavaliers run. Zack Powell finished off the glass before he stroked a glorious downtown treble as Finleigh Porter had a good first half with 12 points and it was ‘game on’.
The third quarter was the highest scoring as Rockets took it by 32-20 as Isaac Round showed his skills with a fine shot coupled to a superb drive whilst Powell made a steal and slam before hitting a treble and followed that up with a pair of tip dunks. A buzzer beating treble from Clarke gave Rockets a 13 point advantage going into the final period at 72-59.
Cavaliers started the fourth quarter on a high as they went on a 16-2 run to take the lead at 75-74. The home supporters now had reason to hope for a win but, Rockets stepped up again, tightened their defense and stroked the shots from inside and outside the ark as Powell sunk a brace of trebles and Round hit one from out wide, to regain control of the contest at 88- 76 with just under 90 secs remaining. Porter made a slam dunk and both sides hit trebles leaving Rockets undefeated after just the opening two games of the campaign as they took the victory 93-83
Top scorers for Rockets were Zack Powell with 26 ably assisted by Fin Porter with 18, Mitch Clarke with 13, Lewis Champion with 11 and Isaac Round with 10.
The Rockets now look ahead to this Sunday where they welcome the Loughborough Riders to Loddon Valley Leisure Center on Sunday 29th October.
