Rebels Defuse the Rockets’ Unbeaten Run

Essex Rebels D1 men had a tough road game road game away to the unbeaten Reading Rockets in their first match up together in the regular season. The last time the two teams met was when Essex travelled to Reading in the quarter final of the kitking trophy and the Rockets came out victorious. 

The First quarter saw both teams come out with intent to stamp their mark on the game. Trading score possession after possession and it seemed that both teams had something to prove. Reading sneaked ahead by 1 point after the first quarter.

Going into the second quarter, Essex made a couple of defensive adjustments and locked into their overall game plan which stunted Readings offensive flow. The Rebels started to combine offence and defence forcing Reading into a timeout. Going into half time Essex managed to hold the Rockets to only 13 points and took a 2 point lead.

The Rebels used the change in momentum from the first half and came out firing in the third quarter. High level perimeter shooting with impactful defence put Reading on the ropes and caused them to take an early timeout. Essex managed to find their feet from range with scoring coming from Conner Nelson and Victor Olarerin.

Reading did rally together and managed to create some solid runs that put Essex on the back foot. Another high level scoring quarter saw Essex up by 8 going into the final stanza.

Rebels needed to continue with their game plan and shoot with confidence from the outside. Reading chipped away at their deficit and brought the game back into touching distance, however Essex kept finding the hot hand of Connor Nelson to keep the rockets at bay. Mitch Clarke for  Reading was on a mission to stop their unbeaten run but Essex managed to keep their cool and closeout at the free throw line. The contest finished with the Rebels snapping the Rockets unbeaten run with a scoreline of 104 – 96.

The Rebels were led by American Connor Nelson who had a huge 31 points, shooting 8/11 from the field and going 100% from the foul line. Victor Olarerin also pitch in with a strong 19 points shooting 7/9 from the field. 

Essex Rebels Head Coach Ross Norfolk was thrilled with the Rebels performance, “Very happy with the teams performance. Everyone contributed throughout parts of the game. Connor was huge from behind the arc and we done a good job of finding the hot hand. We battled from start to finish and stayed focused in the last few minutes of the game”.

Essex travel to the inform City of Birmingham Rockets next weekend looking to continue with their good form.