Buoyed by a superb run of form, MK Breakers Men welcomed COB Rockets to Bletchley Leisure Center on Saturday for the fourth meeting this season between the two BCB rivals.
With the visitors having won each of their last 10 games, Breakers knew this would be a tough test against a team who had beaten them in all three of those previous encounters.
So as tip off approached after a good week of preparation, the question was were Head Coach Ben Stanley’s men ready for the difficult challenge that COB posed?
In the early going, neither team could find a way to get the ball in the basket as the familiarity they shared saw both defences negate their opponents and the game remained scoreless for the opening two-and-a-half minutes.
The lead then see-sawed back and fourth, with no fewer than nine lead changes in the first half. The Rockets would go into the break with a six-point lead, but would trail by five at the end of the third quarter as Deshawn Jackson took over Breakers, netting five three-pointers in that period alone.
In the closing minutes, things tightened up and an Orlan Jackman layup saw the game tied at 76-76 with 1:56 remaining, before a Jordan Spencer assist found Xavier Wilson to put Breakers back up two.
Jackman leveled the scores once again, before a series of misses at both ends culminated with a Jonas Dieterich offensive rebound leading to a foul from Zack Powell. That sent Dieterich – who had been sitting on the bench since midway through the third quarter – going to the free throw line with just 1.6 seconds left on the clock.
Scoring the first of his two shots, the savvy veteran showed incredible presence of mind to purposely miss the second, leaving COB unable to call timeout and ultimately sealing a memorable win.
The Bletchley crowd certainly enjoyed it, seeing their side run out 79-78 winners with Jackson named Player of the Game thanks to his 22-point, 5-rebound performance. There was no shortage of support however, as Jordan Spencer (8 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) was once again close to a triple-double and Xavier Wilson had eight points and an impressive 16 rebounds.
“We needed everybody tonight,” said Coach Stanley shortly after the buzzer sounded. “Blayne [Freckleton] and Mike [New Jr] gave us points off the bench at crucial times, and this was a true team performance, even if it got scrappy at various points.
“There’s no doubt that we can do a better job in certain areas, but this was a win we needed as we push to finish as high as we can in the table with just six more games to play.”
Next week sees Breakers travel south to take on Essex Rebels, before returning to Bletchley Leisure Centre on March 7 when they take on Newcastle Knights. That game will tip off at 17:00 and tickets are available here.