STEVENSTON Sabres were on home duty last weekend, facing Glasgow Rocks for the third time in three months.

Sabres were looking to get out of their slump of six successive defeats, however knew they had an uphill struggle having lost heavily to Rocks on the previous two occasions.

The Three Towns side were further hampered before tip-off with influential point-guard Sam Jack calling off with injury.

Sabres coach Scott Robertson deployed guards William MacLaren and Ian Mitchell as his back-court duo to cope with Rocks aggressive defence on the perimeter. MacLaren and Mitchell started the match well, ran the Sabres offense with patience, and managed to tee-up forward Craig Moffat to score the home teams’ first nine points. Moffat was on fire from range and on the break, causing Rocks all sorts of problems. Unfortunately the Sabres defence was leaking too many easy baskets. Uncontested shots, poor communication and lack of concentration cost Sabres dearly, as Rocks managed to rack up twenty-nine points during the period. Kevin Paterson came off the bench towards the end of the period to score two baskets in quick succession; however Sabres were down 20-29 at the end of the first.

A change of defence at the start of the second period paid immediate dividends for the home side. Three defensive stops in a row, followed by baskets from Jordan Thomson, MacLaren and Moffat seen Sabres close the gap to 28-32 forcing a Rocks time-out. Unfortunately for Sabres, Rocks re-grouped well from the time-out, with guard Connaire White hitting three three-point baskets in a row, opening up another gap. Sabres continued to battle hard during the quarter and held Rocks to only sixteen points; however 14 points from Sabres allowed Rocks to increase their lead to 34-45 at the half.

Sabres continued to step up their efforts on defence at the start of the third period, limiting Rocks outside shooting and doing a better job in the paint. Big-man Krzyzstof Szczygiel stepped up to the plate offensively, hitting seven points during the period and chipping in with numerous assists and rebounds. A flurry of points for Rocks danger-man Chris Barron at the end of the period allowed the away team to extend their lead to sixteen points; this was a bitter pill to swallow for Sabres after containing Rocks so well for the large proportion of the quarter. Rocks led 62-46 going into the final stanza.

A much slicker, patient and better controlled offensive period allowed Sabres to get twenty-six points on the board; their largest of the game. Kevin Paterson continued his good shooting form, racking up six of his season high twelve points during the quarter. Six Sabres were able to get their name on the score sheet in a very productive offensive period. Unfortunately Sabres were not able to chip many points off the Rocks lead and never really managed to get the deficit down to single digits, allowing the away side to bag 21 of their own. Rocks won by a score-line of 72-83.

Having lost to Rocks by over forty points on previous occasions, this was a major positive step for Sabres and showed the players they are capable of competing with the top teams in the league. Sabres must take this positivity into a must-win match next Sunday against South Lanarkshire Colliers.

Team: Robert Dorrian (captain), Kevin Paterson (12 points), Ian Mitchell, Stuart Roy, Ian Burns, William MacLaren (4), Craig Moffat (28), Krzyzstof Szczygiel (11), Jordan Thomson (15 points), Ryan Cooke (2 points).

For the full story see this week's Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.