Alan Kennedy | 27th June 2011| The Bulletin

AFTER the early season shocks, the Republik Nightclub Rockhampton Rockets are back on course for a place in the 2011 Queensland Basketball League finals.

Coach Neal Tweedy wants to keep the team on a roll as results in the rest of the competition are assisting the Rockets, with Gold Coast, Townsville and Brisbane – the teams sitting at one, two and three respectively on the ladder before the weekend games – all losing.

Getting on top of a team like Bundaberg is not as easy as it has been in the past, but the Rockets played a patient game and won with a strong second-half showing to take the game 90-78 at Hegvold Stadium.

“They (Bundaberg) played pretty well in the first half,” Tweedy said.

After leading by three points at the end of the first quarter the game was at half time with the home team just one point up.

“In the second half they dried up scoring – they struggled at point guard,” Tweedy said.

The master coach admitted he was impressed with Bundaberg's two American imports, Will Shackleford and Matthew Hanson.

In particular Hanson was impressive as he scored over half the Bundaberg points on his way to a game-high 40-point tally.

“We don't normally let a player get going like that,” Tweedy said.

While Hanson was a stand-out for the visitors, the Rockets shared the points around.

When the going gets tough, the man Tweedy calls on is Glenn Scott.

While he is usually there to stop opponents getting on a roll, he is also effective offensively, this time hitting 10 points, which included two three-point successes.

Tweedy said with a strong line-up – he has nine players vying for the five starting positions – it made it difficult to give all those suited up adequate court time.

The coach said this had been made tougher since games were changed from 48 minutes to 40-minute duration.

“It is all about the team,” Tweedy said, “the games now are of higher intensity.”

For the Rockets, big man Travis Reed was again the main point scorer with 26, while Stephen Weigh played through a niggling injury to score 24 points.

“He has injured tendons in his shooting hand,” Tweedy said.

The injury robbed Weigh of the opportunity to wear the green and gold in the Boomers series against China, having pulled out of the training camp.

“He has been pulling up with the injury. Stephen will now concentrate (internationally) on the series against New Zealand,” he said.

Tweedy was happy to have Weigh on court on Saturday.

“He was pretty dynamic,” he said.

The Rockets will be hot favourites to win again when they meet Maroochydore at Hegvold Stadium on Friday.