With a late tip off due to a facility issue coupled to a game the evening before, you might have thought this would upset or disrupt Rockets but with their meticulous preparation, they took off with a pair of steals which Jordan Jackson finished with a dunk and lay-up sandwiched with a big rejection of Warriors first offense. Game on !! The host responded but the mercurial Jermiah Jenkins sent an assist to Reis Pinnock to score with a reverse lay-up before he himself rejected another Warriors effort. A brace of trebles by Jenkins and Zack Powell couped to strong defence saw Rockets enjoy a 28-13 first quarter lead.
Warriors struck first in the second period with 8 quick points to just 4 form Rockets but Finleigh Porter spun twice to score before Jenkins gave an assist to Jackson prior to a superb bounce pass from Pinnock to Ben Dixon to finish and see Rockets retain their double digit advantage at 38-27.Troy Cracknell finished a great 3 man play drawing a foul as he finished so making it a 3 point play but this was bettered moments later with a Rockets 5 man play finished with a treble for wide out by captain Dixon. Rockets lit up this latter part of the second quarter with some scintillating basketball as Pinnock went coast tot coast , Jenkins spun away form his opponent , drove and finished well as Rockets headed to the interval 52-35 ahead.
Again Warriors scored first but a Cracknell buzzer beating spin score hurt the hosts before a pair of great floor recoveries kept the ball in play for Dixon to hit another treble. Though Warriors hit 3 trebles in this third period Rockets play remained fast and pleasant to watch as they maintained a 15-18 lead and despite a buzzer beating floater form Pinnock found themselves just 70-56 ahead as the final stanza approached.
Warriors were arguing amongst themselves, even the coaches so having received one technical call and exchanges between the Coach and Assistant the Head Coach left the arena. Moments later the Assistant got his second technical foul was forced to leave the arena too. Rockets stayed calm as Head Coach Samit Nurzade played his full roster with the academy young men not only scoring but seeing Rockets to a 96-75 victory keeping Rockets in fourth place in the league.
Top scorers for Rockets were Troy Cracknell with 22 pts, Jermiah Jenkins with 21 pts and Reis Pinnock with 17 pts.
