The Durham Wildcats lost control of a 21-point halftime lead as the Glasgow Rocks stormed back to win at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre 83-81 on Sunday 2nd November.
The Wildcats dominated the first half of play, holding a 32-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and went into halftime leading 51-30. However, Durham would get into foul trouble and struggled to continue their offensive production as they were out-scored 53-30 in the second half that led to the 83-81 defeat.
The Wildcats are now 3-4 in the BBL Championship (9th place) whilst the Rocks go to 3-3 and 7th place.
Ralph Bucci had his best performance of the season so far with a double-double of 20 points and a game-leading 15 rebounds. The veteran leads the team in boards with 63 overall, averaging nine per match. The captain made nearly 70 percent of his total shots, including 6-8 in field goals and 3-5 from the three-point line. He was 5-8 from the free throw line.
Chris Jones repeated as game MVP as voted by the Wildcats fans for his performance of 20 points, five assists and one steal. This is the second-straight week and the third time this season that Jones was named MVP by the Wildcats fans.
Odiba Attah surpassed his career 500 points scored mark by adding 18 points to Durham’s total, a season-high for him, and now has 517 career points in the BBL Championship. Attah had eight rebounds and blocked one shot in the contest.
Durham’s big men experienced foul trouble that limited their impact in the match. Fran Urli had nine points and eight rebounds. John Puk had three points and blocked on shot in just under eight minutes of time on the court.
Panos Mayindombe led the team in assists with six along with his eight rebounds and eight points. Joel Madourie had three points.
Glasgow had 102 total shots in the match compared to Durham’s 75. The Rocks’ shooting volume was aided by the 24 team turnovers committed by Durham, the most in one game this season. Glasgow were able to convert 22 points from Durham’s turnovers. Glasgow had nine steals and Durham had two.
The Rocks were 35-102 shooting from the field. They continued their pace of leading the BBL in three-pointers taken by going 7-32 from beyond the arc. The Wildcats collectively were 37-75 shooting from the field (49.3 percent). They made six out of 16 three-pointers.
Durham once again won the rebounding battle, collecting 45 boards to Glasgow’s 29.
David Buchberger did not play in this match as he continues to recover from injuries.
Durham will next travel to Cheshire Phoenix on 9th November. The Wildcats last played Cheshire in a BBL Cup defeat on 12th October by a score of 88-65.
By John van Vliet,