POSTED BY: Eurobasket News
The Rockers surely showed they have the will to win and the energy to play hard with the return of playmaker Sinon from a six-month suspension, but at the same time it is obvious that they lack depth and crunch-time experience as they let the Hawks steal a 96-91 victory from the jaws of defeat in the mens final.
With player-coach Gonzague Loupi Agrippine making the tactical switches, the Rockers looked like giving the Hawks a dose of their own medicine as their high tempo play gave the still rusty-looking Hawks, who usually win games with a tough defence, a tough time.
The Rockers led by 11 21-10 on a Sinon layup with 2 minutes 58 seconds (2:58) left in the first quarter. When Bernard Bristol (G) was called for goaltending on a Pascal Bibi layup with 2:48 on the clock in the second quarter, the Rockers were up by 15 45-30 , but soon started running out of steam as the Hawks used a 12-0 run to close the score to 45-42 at half-time.
Nigerian Alao Solomon tied the score at 47-47 on a layup after a Mike Estico miss with 1:06 played in the third, but a Brian Morel 3-point play gave the Rockers back the lead at 50-47 and when he buried two treys inside 24 seconds his team regained their double-digit lead 65-55 with 4:16 to play. But the Hawks again trimmed the score and took the lead for the first time at 68-67 on two Bristol free-throws with 1:39 left and started the fourth quarter with a two-point advantage 71-69.
With big men Keven Morel and Daniel Hoareau fouling out with two minutes apart and with 6:33 left to play, many and including the Hawks bench thought the Rockers would just disintegrate but they stood firm and even led 83-77 on a Selwyn Tamboo layup (5:34 left) before the Hawks equalised again at 85-85 on Steve Allisops 3-point play.
After Solomon gave Hawks the lead at 93-91 with 44 seconds to play, Bibi made an eventful trip to the free-throw line missing two shots denying his team of a chance to tie the game once more, while Wilby Domingue and Bristol scored to give the Hawks a 96-91 victory.
Solomon led all scores with 37 points, while veteran power forward Jim Domingue, whose love for the game and winning mentally is still getting him more playing time than his younger teammates, added 17. Bristol contributed 12 and Rodney Loze (194-C) finished with 11 before fouling out.
Playmaker Bristol was happy with the win, but cautioned his teammates that this season wont be easy like the last when we made a clean sweep of all the titles.
The Rockers came out strong and proved to us that they have worked on their mistakes and we need to get down to some serious work if we want to win the other competitions, added the 36-year-old.
Morel was the Rockers top scorer with 24 points, followed by Sinon with 20, Hoareau with 12 and Bibi with 11.
We could have won the match but lost it! We have ourselves to blame for the loss and the mistakes we committed but even though many might not agree, the officials did not do us any favour, lamented Sinon who caused the Hawks open defence also sorts of problems with his penetration game.
Saturdays game gave an indication of what the 2013 season will look like as the Hawks, it seems, wont have it easy as last year when they reached the century mark in almost every match, including the landslide 111-61 win against the same Rockers in the season-ending Seychelles basketball Federation Cup final.
Courtesy of: https://basket-in-africa.blogspot.com
