| Glasgow Rocks | 86 |
| Guildford Heat | 75 |
The friendly game between Scotland’s only professional team and our prospective national side was booked several weeks ago to fill a vacated date in the Rocks fixtures.
Murray, one of Scotland’s top performers in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, commented on his decision to play for Scotland,
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always a tough decision to play against your team, but I really feel like I belong to both teams.
“I get to play for the Rocks all the time, but the Scotland squad only get together occasionally, so I’m really looking forward to playing with them… especially with the big European tournament coming up this summer.”
When asked more specifically about facing his teammates – and flatmate Maurice “Squeaky” Hampton – Murray added a word of warning to the BBL’s giant killers,
“The guys have been talking a bit of trash in practice, so I’m looking forward to showing them who’s boss. I may have to dunk on Squeaky.”
Rocks Rolling…
The Rocks are on a roll of late. The Braehead BBL side have won 7 of their last 8 including a 92-73 thrashing of League leaders Newcastle Eagles. That stretch of success has earned player/coach Sterling Davis the BBL’s “Coach of the Month” award for November - just his 2nd full month on the job.
Just 6 days after the Scotland game, the Rocks will travel south to Crawley’s K2 Arena where they will again face Newcastle in the BBL Cup semi-finals. Davis knows the Eagles will be tough to topple twice.
“We played a great game on Sunday and it was good to get such an important win. Newcastle are a great team and I know Fab (head coach Fabulous Flournoy) will have them ready in Crawley. We need to be ready for an opponent looking for revenge.”
On the Scotland game, Davis commented,
“I’m looking forward to this game. It will be a real showcase of one of Britain’s fastest growing sports and some of the best players are here in Scotland.
“Some of our Scottish guys like Scott Russell and Dan Donnelly will see some more time than usual, and they’ve worked hard to earn that this year. It’s also important that the whole squad stay sharp in the lead up to the Cup, so we’re all taking the game seriously. Iain has a good squad, so I expect we’ll have a fight on our hands.”
Rocks General Manager Bruce Cook says the game is about more that who scores the most points.
“I’m glad we have the opportunity to do this. We’ve been working more closely than ever with BasketballScotland this past year and I see this game as a real celebration of the sport from grass roots right up to the elite level.
“We’ll put on a full entertainment package along with the game, so I really hope people will come out and see how athletic these guys are. The game is so fast that anyone will enjoy it.”
Posted on 04 December, 2007
