There's no place like home for hurting Lions
Form must improve for BBL Trophy showdown
Lions will be glad to return to Middleton Hall on Friday night after two more crushing defeats on the road ended any remaining hopes of BBL Championship glory.
It's now four heavy defeats on the bounce for Vince Macaulay's men who went down 104-84 at Sheffield Sharks last Thursday before losing 108-78 in their last outing in Glasgow on Sunday - making it four straight games that they have conceded in excess of 100 points.
Their disastrous run of form has seen Lions plummet from serious title contenders to now sitting in fifth place behind Rocks and Leicester Riders. Leaders Sheffield and Newcastle Eagles are now out of sight and out of mind.
Rocks tightened their grip on third place with their 108-78 defeat of Lions. Steve Parillon knocked down 26 points for the Scottish side who led from tip to buzzer, even without their injured influential point-guard, Rob Yanders.
The Lions, themselves without Frank Holmes who was injured in the recent defeat to Eagles, then lost point guard EJ Harrison as things went from bad to worse.
Despite their shortened rotation Glasgow's in-form offence clicked immediately. A 13-2 run to start the match set the tone for a dominating first quarter from the home team.
Two threes by Parillon and one from Jessie Sapp helped Rocks stretch to 33-16 before two Harrison free throws made it 33-18 at the first break.
Rocks continued their onslaught in the second quarter - a 15-0 run midway through the period then gave them a 25-point lead at 51-26.
Lions briefly rallied with a 5-0 tear but the hosts finished the half with a 10-3 burst to make it 61-34.
Lions' Yorick Williams went on a one man crusade to keep his team in the match as he knocked down five three-point shots in the third quarter. But his efforts were to no avail as the damage had already been done leaving the game to peter out to another big defeat for the city side.
"I am not sure what's happening right now," admitted coach Macaulay. "We are facing real adversity and we have lost more games in the last week and a half than we have all season!
"But all we can do is regroup and work to get stronger together."
That defeat in Glasgow came three days after an equally hard to take reverse at table-topping Sharks - a side Lions beat 98-89 in a thrilling double-overtime success earlier in the season which raised belief that a title charge was on the cards going into 2010.
Despite them losing that classic at Bletchley Leisure Centre one man, Mike Cook, stood out for Sharks that night and didn't deserve to be on the losing side. And he took sweet revenge for that night back in October as he smashed 33 points in an unstoppable individual performance to help them see off Lions.
But Macaulay men get a welcome break from Championship action on Friday as they welcome Cheshire Jets to Middleton Hall for a BBL Trophy semi final first leg, tip-off 8pm. The all important second leg in Chester is on March 14.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 11 February 2012
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