Reading Rockets (18-3) will play their penultimate double header of the season this weekend as they entertain relegation threatened Worthing Thunder (6-16) on Saturday evening at their second home venue, Bohunt School (6pm tip-off), before travelling to the capital to take on play-off chasing London Lituanica (9-11) on Sunday afternoon at UEL Sports Dock (1.30pm tip-off). Rockets made it 17 wins on the spin to keep their title ambitions alive with a 95-75 away win at Lancashire Spinners with five games remaining in the regular season. Both of the Berkshire outfits upcoming opponents recorded victories last weekend as Worthing Thunder secured a crucial 67-60 victory against fourth placed Derby Trailblazers (13-7), whilst London Lituanica picked up their first win in five beating bottom of the table Westminster Warriors (1-19) 87-77 to leave the Lithuanian side in 9th place in the table just outside of the play-offs.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s match-up with Worthing Thunder will be third meeting between the two teams this term with Thunder picking up an opening day 78-71 home win in the National Trophy before Rockets secured an 84-70 away league win back in December. The Reading team defeated Sunday\u2019s opponents just two weeks ago in their only meeting of the season running out convincing winners by 105 points to 69 at Rivermead Leisure Complex.<\/p>\n
Rockets Head Coach Manuel Pe\u00f1a Garc\u00e9s was pleased to see his team notch up another win and was especially satisfied with the 36-13 second quarter blitz against Lancashire but knows work at the defensive end needs to be done and appreciates that this week is a huge one for him and his team. He said,<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very happy after Saturday\u2019s win because we had an improved performance and played an absolutely great quarter of basketball during the game. This is good for our momentum but we cannot be satisfied or at all complacent. We gave up 75 points and for me that is too much so this week we will need to address this and continue to work on the really good defence we played, especially in the second quarter of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams we play this weekend are still really fighting for different things in the league; Worthing to stay in the division and London Lituanica to get into the top eight and the play-offs and that\u2019s what makes them both dangerous opponents in their own right. Worthing have just beaten Derby and held them to 60 points so they are in a good moment and will be desperate to beat us as always! Lituanica recorded their first win since the National Trophy final and are a very tough opponent at home – we have seen this with their victory over Northumbria in January so we know that, whilst we are on our run we and the team to beat, we have to put care and attention in to both games, one at a time, before thinking about next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge Rockets fans to keep their fantastic support with us as we keep working so so hard to achieve something really special this season. We must keep improving, thinking the right way, and believing!\u201d<\/p>\n
Rockets go into their penultimate double header weekend of the season with no further injury concerns than the ones they already have. Shooting guard Joel Keeble remains a long term absence for the Berkshire outfit whilst Under 18 Fidel Gomez De Enterria Lopez is still a few weeks away from competitive basketball with his ankle injury. Under 19 point guard Bikram Rana did make the journey to Lancashire but didn\u2019t feature for Manuel Pe\u00f1a Garc\u00e9s\u2019 team but looks set to return to full action in time for Saturday\u2019s game against Worthing Thunder. Ibu Jassey Demba suffered a knock during last Saturday\u2019s win against Lancashire Spinners but has shown no ill affects since and will almost certainly feature. With five games remaining and an incredible 17 game winning streak, Rockets will look to keep this alive as well as their title ambitions with all to play for at the top of NBL Division One.<\/p>\n
To keep up to date with all the latest news and information the Rockets social media platform is the place to be on Facebook – readingrockets, Twitter – @rocketsreading, and Instagram – rocketsreading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reading Rockets (18-3) will play their penultimate double header of the season this weekend as they entertain relegation threatened Worthing Thunder (6-16) on Saturday evening at their second home venue, Bohunt School (6pm tip-off), before travelling to the capital to take on play-off chasing London Lituanica (9-11) on Sunday afternoon at UEL Sports Dock (1.30pm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":[],"_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"spay_email":""},"categories":[2,4,6],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Rockets-captain-Danny-Carter-in-action-e1481744454241.png?fit=705%2C352&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdDaI5-st","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":693,"url":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/rockets-face-tough-double-header-in-final-weekend-of-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":1765,"position":0},"title":"Rockets face tough double header in final weekend of 2015","date":"17\/12\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Rockets (6-1) face arguably their toughest double header weekend of the season when they round of 2015 with a trip to Hemel Storm (7-3) on Saturday evening (7pm tip-off) before returning home for the final game of the year when they host the league leaders Manchester Magic (8-1) on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Main News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/latest-news-banner_zps8906efc5.jpg?fit=555%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1770,"url":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/top-two-meet-at-rivermead-on-saturday-in-crunch-title-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":1765,"position":1},"title":"Top two meet at Rivermead on Saturday in crunch title game","date":"16\/03\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Rockets (20-3) have a huge weekend in front of them as they face title rivals Team Northumbria (20-3) on Saturday evening at Rivermead Leisure Complex (6pm tip-off) before rounding off the weekend hosting Loughborough Student Riders (12-10) the following day (5pm tip-off). Rockets took their winning streak to an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Club Announcements"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Rockets-Vs-TN-and-Loughborough.png?fit=696%2C425&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3457,"url":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/rockets-to-face-first-double-header-of-the-year-after-taking-opening-win-of-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":1765,"position":2},"title":"Rockets to face first double header of the year after taking opening win of 2019","date":"07\/01\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Rockets (8-4) will look to continue their unbeaten start to 2019 when they travel to the East Midlands on Saturday evening to take on the Derby Trailblazers (7-6) (7.15pm tip-off) before entertaining second-placed Worthing Thunder (10-3) on Sunday afternoon at Rivermead Leisure Complex (5pm tip-off). 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Rockets split last weekend\u2019s games but were victorious in their second encounter as they finally stopped the rot of four consecutive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Game Preview"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Liverpool-news.png?fit=700%2C305&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4670,"url":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/rockets-face-final-double-header-of-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":1765,"position":4},"title":"Rockets face final double header of 2019","date":"09\/12\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Rockets (8-3) will have one of their toughest weekend\u2019s of the season coming up when they travel to the South coast on Saturday evening to take on second placed Worthing Thunder (9-2) in NBL Division One (7.30pm tip-off) before making the short journey to Oaklands the following day to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Game Preview"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/news-header-doubleheader.png?fit=700%2C298&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1752,"url":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/rockets-enter-final-eight-games-with-tricky-double-header\/","url_meta":{"origin":1765,"position":5},"title":"Rockets enter final eight games with tricky double header","date":"21\/02\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Rockets (15-3) will enter the final eight games of their NBL Division One campaign starting with a double header weekend as they visit the East Midlands on Saturday afternoon to take on the Leicester Warriors (6-13) at Braunstone Leisure Centre (3pm tip-off) before entertaining London Lituanica (8-9) back in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Club Announcements"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/RR_Div1-Press.png?fit=705%2C352&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingrockets.co.uk\/rr2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}