Glasgow Rocks coach Tony Garbelotto claimed his side requires a change of attitude to prevent a blip from becoming a crisis after his side meekly exited the BBL Cup last night. Worcester Wolves joined London, Sheffield and Cheshire in the semi-finals with a 97-85 victory at the Emirates Arena that ruthlessly exposed, and then punished, the hosts frailties in a manner that could persuade the Scots to tweak their roster in the days ahead.
Down 20-10 in the opening period, Glasgow were never truly able to reverse the momentum as Worcester – fielding just seven players - soaked up their pressure and scrambled for every half-change. And a 14-3 run in the fourth eventually took the Wolves as much as 21 clear with only a game-high 24 points from Gareth Murray stemming the tide.
“We lack real character and fight within this group,” Garbelotto said. “When it’s going well, we can roll over teams. When it’s not going well, we don’t have the characters to dig in and change the tempo of a game. We didn’t play well in London on Friday – they punched us hard in the face. We were two steps slow. But that’s two games in a row we’ve been terrible and what’s worrying is the lack of urgency. In a Cup game our attitude needed to be different. From the start, we were flat.”
Worcester, who got 22 points from Brandon Parrish and four players with double-doubles in points and rebounds, were just hungrier to advance and it showed, Garbelotto added, as he ponders changes ahead of the forthcoming international break. “Everyone in our organisation thinks we’re going to walk this game. We were playing a perennial top four team and we had no right to win.”
Meanwhile Caledonia Pride moved up to sixth in the WBBL by beating Durham 65-58.
RESULTS
BBL Cup quarter-final. Glasgow Rocks 85 Worcester Wolves 97
BBL Surrey Scorchers 85 Bristol Flyers 86, Plymouth Raiders 70 London Lions 75, Cheshire Phoenix 79 Manchester Giants 88
WBBL. Durham Palatatines 58 Caledonia Pride 65, Cardiff Archers 55 Sevenoaks Suns 61, Manchester Mystics London Lions
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