READING ROCKETS recovered from last weekend’s defeats with a resounding victory over Leicester Warriors.
In their first game back at the Rivermead, the Rockets brilliant defensive intensity and shotmaking in a dominant performance from start to finish.
An action-packed first quarter saw the Rockets jump out to a commanding lead early. AJ Basi and Tyler Cartaino got the scoring underway with a three and dunk respectively, establishing a five-point lead which would hold strong throughout the quarter.
With a 26-15 advantage, the Rockets were in great shape at the end of first and deservedly so, showing fantastic energy on both ends of the court.
The Rockets’ hustle was just as evident entering the second period, with stifling defence the order of the day from all Coach Pearson’s men.
Jaz Bains made back-to-back threes early in the quarter to kickstart the offence.
More activity on the boards from Meshack late in the quarter gave the Rockets some easy buckets, ensuring that even a late three from Leicester’s Haggith couldn’t break the 20 point stranglehold which the Rockets had established.
A late bucket from Cartaino saw his point total rise to 17 for the half and put the Rockets at 53-30 going into the break.
KV Live maintained pressure on the offensive glass as the third came to a close, earning a putback for himself and a short jumper for Lufile, before both KV and 16-year-old Isaac Round hit their first threes of the game to push the lead ever-closer to 40.
Another Reis Pinnock three saw a dominant third quarter end with the Rockets cruising at 84-36.
Coach Pearson took the opportunity to throw all the Rockets’ young talent on the floor, with Ash Kitchen joining Ronnie Oguekwe, KV Live and Isaac Round on the floor alongside Reis Pinnock to marshal the team.
The confidence of the academy players, who were each treated to considerable minutes in this game, was on show in the closing minutes and will give Coach Pearson great belief in the depth of the squad going forwards, with Ash Kitchen’s late contributions ensuring that all Reading players earned 10 minutes of time on the hardwood.
With a final score of 99-54, Reading put on a clinic in their first game at Rivermead this season.
