12/30/09 - State Farm Classic - Providence St. Mel
January 11, 2010
12/30/09 – Rock Falls 77 Providence St. Mel 65
Rockets shoot past St Mel,
what a difference 14 hours makes!
By Bob Martin
Prov. St Mel 13 13 21 18 65
Rock Falls 21 17 17 22 77
14 hours after appearing as the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, the Rockets returned to Shirk with arguably tired legs and put on a shooting clinic from the field. In spite of 22 turnovers and 4 for 11 shooting from the foul line, the Rockets surged ahead of St Mel and built as much as a 22 point lead in the 3rd quarter while achieving a relatively easy victory against their much faster (albeit shorter) Chicago opponent.
The Rockets lasted faced Providence St. Mel at the 2002 Rock Falls Shootout and lost a thriller to them, 70-68. Of course all Rocket fans remember the more famous meeting, that being in 1999 when the Rockets faced them in the quarter finals on their way to the State Championship. In that contest the Rockets trailed the entire game and then finally took the lead late in the game and prevailed 47-44.
This year St Mel (6-5) and Rock Falls (7-6, 1-1) met after both had suffered defeats last night, dropping them out of the championship bracket. This game also heralded the season opener for Tevin Rumley and the Rockets certainly seemed happy to have him on the court. Rumley started slowly and finished big, leading the Rockets with 19 points while also leading the team with 5 assists while adding new life to the Rocket offense which looked the best it has this young season. Joining Rumley in the double figure scoring camp were Jake Junis and Matt Lauts with 17 each, and Brett Chappell who contributed 15 points. Junis and Chappell shared duties as the hot 3 point shooters on the night with Jake nailing 4 in the first half and Brett pouring in 3 in the second half.
Rocket Scorers:
Tevin Rumley 19
Jake Junis 17
Matt Lauts 17
Brett Chappell 15
Dylan Austin 7
Thomas Farrell 2
Next Up:
Dec 30 4:30 pm: Macon Meridian at Normal West
