Cheshire Phoenix's hunt for a first home win of the season continues as they suffered a narrow 78-76 home reverse to Glasgow Rocks.
Another bumper crowd of over 1,100 at the Cheshire Oaks Arena saw the Nix lead for much of the contest before Glasgow hit the front in the fourth quarter to return north of the border with a win.
Nix head coach John Lavery handed a debut to new American signing Kinu Rochford, who had only arrived on Friday, and he impressed with a high-energy defensive effort that brought him 10 rebounds and two blocked shots to go with his haul of six points.
Akeem Ellis, fresh from his appearance alongside Nix team-mate Jordan Williams, led all scorers with 26 points, with Williams hitting 19. But sharp shooting from Will Hall and Marcus Ware (22 points), 18 from Warren Gillis and 10 from Riley Grabau, who had been held scoreless until midway through the third period, saw the Rocks, who lost Great Britain international Kieron Achara through injury early on, edge over the finish line.
The Nix had led the Rocks going into the final quarter and hadn't encountered too much trouble from Sterling Davis' visitors but the Scottish side put a run together at a crucial time to pull away from the home side as they stretched their lead to 77-70 with half a minute on the clock.
But the Nix almost stole the show at the death after back-to-back threes from Ellis and Williams trimmed the Rocks' lead to just one with 3.5 seconds left. And with the Nix in possession, Sean McGonagill managed to throw up a three but he couldn't nail the clutch shot as it rebounded agonisingly off the rim and out to safety to hand the Rocks the win.
The Nix, who have a 100% winning record away from home, move to a 3-2 record in the BBL and travel to reigning champions Newcastle Eagles on Friday night (7.30pm).
