READING Rockets are through to the quarter-finals of the National Cup after defeating Division 2 club Greenwich Titans 106-57 at Loddon Valley.

This win completed a tremendous weekend for them as the previous day they had defeated Hemel Storm 92-84 away in Division 1.

On Sunday, the difference between the two teams soon became obvious as Rockets stroked five trebles, four of them by Jermiah Jenkins. They went into the first break with a commanding 24-8 lead and never looked back.

But the second period was a tighter affair as Titans hit their first treble to stay 14 points adrift until the final minutes when Rockets pulled away with a Zack Powell treble, a Lewis Champion drive and a buzzer-beating treble for Isaac Round, leaving them with a 46-21 advantage at the interval.

The third quarter saw a number of trebles from both teams including three from Titans though Rockets replied with 4 of their own from Champion, Powell and a brace from Jenkins, who was on fire from beyond the arc.

Elijah Maynard made a huge rejection and Chris Alexander took down an offensive rebound to score before drawing the foul as Rockets eased to a 71-39 lead going into the final period.

Reis Pinnock made his regular steal and score while Maynard and Powell worked hard to create openings for themselves and teammates with Powell making an outrageous block before a slam dunk and Jenkins hit the final treble of his night making it six from 13.

To their credit, the Titans never gave up, but Rockets' class and experience showed through with Round having a purple patch of three consecutive trebles.
Jenkins finished with 23 points, his best so far this season, followed by Maynard with 17, Round and Powell, both 15, Porter 10, in addition to taking down 14 rebounds, with Alexander the sixth player to hit double figures.

Head coach Samit Nuruzade was able to give academy players Harry Milbank and Jacob Spurrier much game experience.

The quarter-finals are scheduled for Sunday week, December 17.
Reading's eight-point victory at Hemel was their sixth in seven Division 1 games, leaving them third in the table with the same number of points, 12, as second-placed Derby, who have played a game more. With seven wins out of eight, Essex are the pacemakers with 14 points.

Once again, Rockets' scorers were led by Mitch Clarke with 26 points, although the game's individual honours went to Hemel's Hakeem Sylla, who recorded 27 points on top of 11 rebounds.

This coming Saturday, Rockets make the long trip up to Newcastle University, who sit seventh in the standings with four wins and two defeats.

Reading Women ended their four-game losing streak with a narrow 68-66 victory against Anglia Ruskin University thanks to a brace of free throws from Sante Moonie in the final seconds. Their top contributor was Lindsey Cleary with 19 points and 16 rebounds.

Rockets move up to ninth in the Division 1 table with six points from seven games.