The penultimate home court game for the Rebs this season. A strong performance was needed if a push for the play-offs remained realistic. The Essex Sports Arena was lively - especially the army of young ankle biters sitting next to me.
Rebs were short benched, in what looked like a series of badly timed injuries. Mile Brown in particular was a major loss for the home team. Rockets meanwhile were… physical.
This was a bruiser of an away team. But they also had the pace to match the muscle. They moved the ball around the court at speed, with some killer passes from one end of the Arena to the other.
The Rebs MC tried his best to keep the momentum flowing off the court. This led to a ticking off from the referee, after some slightly less than polite applause ahead of a Rockets shot from the free throw line.
Tony Idiata-Mendez had the final say at the end of the first, with a fantastic dunk ahead of the buzzer. SWING that hoop fella. Rebs trailed 25-17.
Rockets pulled away, right from the start of the second quarter. They were lethal on the free throw line. Every shot was sunk. They stretched their lead to 52-38 at HT.
This soon became a tough night on home court for the Rebs. The lead stretched to 76-54 at the end of the third. Buckets rained in for Birmingham. Everything seemed to sink.
The body language dipped a little for the Rebs in the final quarter. There was no way back chasing 20 or so points, and the clock counting down. A difficult night at Our House.
