The Guildford Heat bounced back from Sunday’s BBL Trophy Final defeat by overcoming the Scottish Rocks 83-78, closing the gap on the top five in the process. The Heat are chasing the fifth-placed Rocks, who have now lost their last five games and have not won on the road since November.
Keonta Howell led the Heat with 24 points, while Mike Martin made numerous big plays on his way to 18 for the night. Sterling Davis led all scorers with 25 points for the visitors.
Howell, who scored 30 points in the Trophy final, picked up where he left off as he opened the game with two three-pointers. But the Heat would struggle for the remainder of the first half as Gareth Murray responded with the next five to set the tone for what would be a very tight game. Davis and Murray scored three-pointers in an 8-0 burst that saw the Rocks take the ascendancy at 10-15 and the pair repeated the trick to make the score 18-24. Davis made a three-point play to help the Rocks take a 21-27 first quarter lead.
The Rocks took the biggest lead of the game in the second stanza as Marc Pratt’s triple made the score 25-38. From that point, the hosts came back into the game. Howell and EJ Harrison connected on three-pointers, and Chad McKnight scored 4 points to cap a 15-3 burst that narrowed the deficit to 40-41, which became 40-42 at the half.
Dan Sandell tied the game immediately in the third quarter, although the Rocks maintained a slim advantage. A dunk from Howell and three-point play from Martin gave the Heat their first lead since the first quarter at 51-50 before a number of lead changes ensued. The teams were then tied at 55, 59, and then 61 at the end of the third period.
These exchanges continued into the fourth period as Rob Yanders gave the Rocks a 65-67 lead, only for EJ Harrison to tie the game and then score a three-pointer to see the Heat 70-67 in front. Murray tied the game at 70 with another triple, and the teams were knotted again at 74 before back-to-back baskets for the Rocks with 2:00 remaining. The Rocks would not score again as the Heat finished with a 9-0 push. They took the lead on another Mike Martin three-point play, before Harrison and Sandell saw the game out from the free-throw line.
Posted on 18 March, 2009
