Without Lewis Champion ( compassionate ) and Ben Dixon ( groin injury ) a depleted team took to the road to Colchester. However a returning Troy Cracknell had his Mom and Brother surprise him from USA …and what a flip that proved as Troy hit 41 pts and took down 8 rebounds in an excellent performance that encouraged the whole team to go into the Christmas break on a high, expectant to a strong 2023.
Jermiah Jenkins stroked a treble to open Rockets score before Jordan Jackson hit 4 from 4 from the free throw line and Reis Pinnock took down the first of his excellent rebounds to stop an Essex score. Cracknell hit a brace of free throws before hitting a treble and a pull up jump shot to ease Rockets into a 20-9 lead with 3 minutes of the opening quarter ending. A pair of Essex trebles was interrupted with a Zack Powell slam as Rockets held a 28-17 advantage at the first break.
Jenkins started the third period as he opened the game with a huge treble before he sent an assist to Pinnock to do likewise. Powell scored with yet another slam dunk thanks to Jenkins whilst Cracknell continued to trouble the Essex outfit with a reverse lay-up and treble. A Powell drive and score was followed immediately by the recent Rockets signing with a steal and slam giving Rockets their biggest lead of 76-56 as the final quarter beckoned.
A fourth slam from Powell was followed by a brace of assists to Cracknell and Pinnock causing Essex to call a time-out within minutes of the start of the period at 61-82 down. A Powell bounce pass to Pinnock was overshadowed moments later as he made another steal and a huge single hand slam dunk. Essex and Cracknell exchanged a brace of trebles each as Rockets returned to winning ways after the disappointment of their single point loss at Manchester last Sunday as they upped their defence in the second half and took a fine victory by 99-71.
Top scorers for Rockets were Troy Cracknell with 41 pts, 8 rebounds and 3 assists; Zack Powell with a double double of 18 pts, 11 rebounds complemented with 4 steals. Reis Pinnock hit 13 pts , took down 7 rebounds , had 5 assist and 3 steals whilst USA guard Jermiah Jenkins hit 11 pts and Finn Porter had 10 pts.