City of Birmingham Rockets progressed to the quarterfinal stages of the KitKing Trophy with a 97-86 win against Milton Keynes Breakers to continue their 100% start to the season on Saturday evening.
Both teams went into the game with unbeaten starts in the competition, and one teams unbeaten run would end in Nechells.
The game saw a return to action for Nathan Ramsdale-Owen while summer signing Ben Tew missed out through injury.
The first few minutes of the game saw Breakers start stronger, they opened with accurate shooting and led 0-5 after the first two minutes.
This was before Martyn Gayle and Sam Toluwase both drained huge three point shots to close the gap.
Ron Oberia looked solid on defence he was crucial in the opening stages with steals that halted Breakers offensive momentum.
Kayne King also looked a danger on both ends of the floor, his strength in the paint alongside two three point shots, were a huge part of Rockets opening offense.
Martyn Gayle and Sam Toluwase were on fire from three in the first quarter, both hitting two from two from beyond the arc.
Coach Nuno’s side were drawing fouls really well, with Orlan Jackman causing chaos for Breakers inside.
After mounting a late resurgence, Rockets ended the first with a 13 point lead, 28-15.
The second quarter saw much of the same with Rockets looking unstoppable on offense and managing to keep Breakers’ dangermen at bay.
Ron Oberia and Reiss Faure-Daley were solid on defense, frustrating Breakers as they struggled to find an offensive rhythm.
Rockets were getting a lot of joy from getting the ball into the corners for three point shots.
A blitz of three-pointers in the second saw Rockets head into half time with a commanding 27 point lead, 66-39.
Rockets came out after half time looking comfortable as we aimed to protect our lead.
Kayne King and Sam Toluwase continued to look a real threat inside the paint and Ron Oberia showed real hustle on defense once again.
Breakers started to chip away at the lead but an unlikely reversal of their first half fortunes always looked out of reach as Rockets kept them at arms length despite a much improved second half showing from the visitors.
Both sides started slowly in the fourth as Rockets looked to protect their lead against a fading Breakers side.
Breakers managed to close the gap further as Rockets failed to score in the first 3 minutes of the quarter.
It was Reiss Faure-Daley with a three point dagger to get our first points of the quarter – but the offensive intensity of the first half had disapaited somewhat as the game etched towards its finale.
Coach Nuno’s Rockets were still defending well, fighting for every loose ball, and rebounding really well.
Martyn Gayle and Ron Oberia led the way defensively early in the fourth. They both put up two steals each in the game, alongside Orlan Jackman and Sam Toluwase in what was a great defensive performance.
Breakers managed to reduce the lead down to 11 points, but it was too little too late, and Rockets ran out comfortable winners, with the 97-86 scoreline a credit to Breakers’ unrelenting push to narrow the defecit until the final moments.
Martyn Gayle finished as the games leading scorer with 25 points as he shot 4 out of 5 three point attempts.
Rockets progress to the next stage of the KitKing Trophy where they will face Bradford Dragons at Nechells Wellbeing Centre at 7:30 pm next Saturday!
