A late scoring run of 15-6 helped Surrey Scorchers overturn a 14-point deficit in the first leg of the BBL Cup semi-final as they head into the second trailing by just 2 points. With the final scored reading 81-79 in the Rocks favour.
Glasgow came into this game as favourites given their fine form this season, but when the match started it was Scorchers who took an early lead as Tayo Ogedengbe playing against his former club found a 2. Rocks hit back and took the lead for the first time with 7 minutes left in the quarter. Despite the difference in league position this season Scorchers were matching their rivals blow for blow, and regained the lead themselves when Mike Ochereobia scored 2. However, this momentum was quickly nullified by Glasgow who overturned that lead and ended the quarter with a 5 point run to make the scores 25-20 in their favour.
Scorchers started the second quarter well and brought the scores back to within 1 as both Jay Bowie and Tayo scored 2 apiece. The game looked to be changing when Glasgow opened up a 7-point gap, but Quincy Taylor, who scored 20 plus points for the second game running found a 3 to get Scorchers back up and running. A double-double from Chaz Rollins brought the scores even closer, and then after the teams had shared 2s between them, Scorchers went ahead when Quincy Taylor scored a double-double of his own to make the scores 37-36. But despite the good work from the team, Rocks found a way to regain the lead, as they went on a 6-2 run at the end of the quarter to leave them leading 45-42 at half-time.
The momentum that Glasgow had built towards the end of Q2, took them strongly into the third, as they took a 6-point gap early in the second-half. A 2 from Tayo and then Mike Ochereobia helped to stop the scoring run, but with 2 minutes left in the quarter, Rocks had a 14-point lead, as the scores read 64-50. A late 2 from Tayo and then Will Neighbour helped reduce that gap to 10-points but as the quarter ended Rocks were 64-56 ahead.
Speaking before the game, Scorchers head coach Creon, said that ‘in a two-legged match every point counts’ but as the final quarter started it looked as though Glasgow would be taking a significant advantage going into the second leg as they opened up an 11-point lead once again. However, with 5 minutes left, timeout was called, and this managed to change the pattern of the game completely. Right from the restart Scorchers came racing out of the blocks looking to reduce the scores. First Will Neighbour found a 2, before a double-double from Taylor brought the scores to within 5, and this got even better for Scorchers as with just 1 minute left the scores were back to just 2, as Neighbour found another 2. Glasgow eventually found their rhythm again and scored a couple of points of their own, but with just 1-second remaining, Taylor hit a 2 to make the final score 81-79 to the Rocks, but with everything still to play for going into the second leg.
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