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Joel Osborne

Joel Osborne writes

Posted Saturday, April 7th 2018

Vigor helps Scotland improve to 2-0 on the Gold Coast

Saturday, April 7th 2018

Mike Vigor played in eight minutes off the bench to help Team Scotland to a 63-52 victory over Cameroon at the Commonwealth Games.

Led by a game-high 25 points and six rebounds from Gareth Murray, Scotland improve to 2-0 in their 2018 Gold Coast campaign.

BOX SCORE

WHAT HAPPENED

After an incredibly slow start to the game, the Scots held Cameroon to just 9% shooting from the field to lead 15 points to four.

Cameroon ended their scoring drought with a breakaway dunk to force Scotland head coach Rob Beveridge to call for time with seven and half minutes to play in the second.

Cameroon finally reached double figures with just over five minutes to play in the first half to cut the gap to just six, 16-10.

Both teams dried up in the second, shooting well below 30% from the field, before Kieron Achara of the Glasgow Rocks made the lay-up off the glass, shortly followed by a three from Rocks teammate Gareth Murray .

The flood gates soon opened for Murray, who had 11 first half points after beating the shot clock from deep to give Scotland a 27-13 advantage.

Vigor came up short on a pair of free throws to end the second period, Scotland holding on to a 14 point lead in a low scoring first half, 29 points to 15. 

Cameroon opened the third period with six unanswered points, but Murray’s hot hand continued into the third, sinking the baseline three to put Scotland ahead 35-21.

With Scotland threatening to run away with it, Cameroon’s defensive intensity stepped up, forcing back-to-back turnovers to halve Scotland’s lead to seven, 37-30.

A beautiful backdoor pass from Vigor gave Fraser Malcolm a wide open dunk, but Cameroon responded with an ‘and-1’ play on a two point jump shot to ensure it was still all to play for heading into the final ten minutes. 44-40.

Cameroon opened the final period with a three from the wing to narrow the gap down to just one. They were given multiple opportunities to take the lead in the fourth, but were haunted by poor decision making down the stretch.

A big time move in the post from Ali Fraser notched his personal tally up to ten and forced Cameroon to take a timeout with Scotland on top by six, 50-44.

The Scottish lead ballooned to nine with three and a half minutes to play, but Cameroon proved they weren’t going to give up without a fight and quickly responded with another three to cut the gap to six, 53-47.

Cameroon were forced to foul late in the game, allowing Murray to calmly ice the game from the foul line - final score 63-52.

NEXT UP

Scotland v India

Sunday, April 8th

Tip-off 12noon BST

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