Plymouth go joint third

Plymouth Raiders moved themselves level on points with the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders in third position in the BBL Championship thanks to a come-from-behind 85-78 victory over the Glasgow Rocks at the Plymouth Pavilions on Sunday evening. 

Both sides traded baskets throughout the early exchanges of the contest with the Raiders enjoying a single-point lead at 12-11, but a Danny Huffor three-pointer broke the game open for the Rocks as they ended the quarter strongly and bagged a 14-1 tear to take the score out to 13-25 at the end of the first period.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Mychal Green and another one from EJ Harrison saw the Rocks extend their lead further to 21 points at 19-40 midway through the second quarter.  The home side tried valiantly to stop the flow of the Rocks and close the deficit and a Michael Ojo three-pointer trimmed the gap to 14 points at 39-53, but an Harrison basket from beyond the arc sent the visitors into the locker rooms leading 39-56 at the half.

In the second half a 7-0 run from the home side trimmed the deficit back to 10 points at 46-56, but a 12-2 response from the Rocks took the score back out to 48-68 with 1:32 left in the third quarter.  The Raiders finished the period the stronger as they netted seven of the last nine points of the quarter as an Anthony Rowe basket on the buzzer saw the Raiders trailing by 15 points at 55-70 heading into the final stanza.

In the final quarter the Raiders exploded out of the blocks and got themselves right back into the contest as they enjoyed a 17-0 start to the period to lead 72-70 with 4:49 remaining in the game.  A Green free-throw with 1:58 left got the Rocks to within two points at 78-76, but the Raiders killed the game off in the closing stages as they enjoyed a 7-2 run to end the game on top.

Lehmon Colbert led the scoring for the Raiders with 23 points in the victory, but it was Green who led all scorers in the contest with 28 points for the Rocks.