Glasgow Rocks 75 Durham Wildcats 70

A STANDOUT performance from Durham Wildcats' Ralph Bucci could not stop them losing at Glasgow Rocks last night.

Bucci, who scored the only double-double of the night – with 24 points and 10 rebounds – was unable to help his team cross the finishing line ahead of their Scottish opponents.

Head coach Dave Elderkin said: “I felt we controlled the game much better this time.

“I feel we missed a trick in the final quarter to really take it to them, but we are a new team and it was starting to come together.

“It’s the closest game we’ve had and we are going to really push for wins this year.”

The first period was a fast and frantic affair as both teams traded baskets, and at the end of the quarter the North East side trailed 24-22.

Glasgow then stepped up the pace in the second and forced the Wildcats in to a number of turnovers which cost them dearly.

The home side took that advantage into the half-time break leading 40-32.

Durham came out in the second half much the better team and stopped the turnover count which led to them taking the third quarter to trail by only five going into the final 10 minutes.

The visiting team could not escape the Rocks and despite tying the final quarter 18-18 it was not enough to get the win.

The 75-70 defeat gave Elderkin hope though, as his team look towards next week’s home clash against Glasgow.

He said: “We are going to start to put doubts in other teams’ minds about us, and that we are here to win games.

“We continued going forward from our game against Newcastle Eagles last week.

“And I’m sure we will continue to go forward when we face them (Glasgow) on Saturday.”