Rockets lose home playoff game, look to build toward next season

allen hester

As the final seconds ticked away in the Richmond Rockets’ first-ever playoff game against the Bay Area Matrix, guard Patrick Mitchell lost his dribble. The ball skipped toward the sidelines. Like the game itself, the ball was out of reach. But Mitchell dove headlong into the first row, scattering chairs and scrambling spectators in a…

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Rockets win again, run streak to 10

richmond rockets chris adams

The Rockets just keep on climbing. Just days after the new American Basketball Association power rankings placed the Richmond Rockets in eighth place nationally, the first-year squad went out and played like a title contender, running the visiting Port City Pirates ragged in a 109-85 win at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium Saturday. The win was…

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Richmond Rockets win big, run streak to five

richmond rockets coach phranklin mckinney

The Richmond Rockets improved to 10-3 on the season with a dominating win over the Sacramento Heatwave Saturday night. The final score was 120-102, with the Rockets leading throughout. The Rockets swept the two-game home set against Sacramento, with Saturday’s win on the heels of a 102-90 drubbing of the Heatwave at the Richmond Memorial…

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Richmond 2011: The year in review

rhonda harris richmond

2011 was quite a year, to borrow a favorite phrase from longtime resident Sims Thompson, in “our fair city.” I know that’s vague, but it’s tough to turn a pithy phrase that sums up a year in a vibrant, bustling and changing city. We had tragedy and triumph, tumult and harmony. Alliances and rivalries. Echoes of the past and glimmers from the future.

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Rockets blast off: team wins first game of the season

This was a night for the underdogs. The Richmond Rockets, the city’s new American Basketball Association team, defeated reigning conference champs the Bay Area Matrix 78-71 in their debut game. “I’m overwhelmed and overjoyed,” said owner Eric Marquis just seconds before the end of the game. When the final buzzer went off he yelled, “I…

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It’s game time: Richmond Rockets debut Thursday

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m. the Rockets will make their American Basketball Association debut at Richmond’s Civic Center Memorial Auditorium against the Pacific North Conference defending champion Bay Area Matrix. It’s a night owner Eric Marquis has been looking forward to for more than a year, and he’s doing everything he can at the last minute to make sure Richmond residents are in the stands to greet his team.

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Richmond, meet your new basketball team

Fourteen-year-old Abdul Black loves basketball, but he’s not worried about the NBA lockout. He’s following a different league this season, and he’s already got a favorite player. “I’m here to see ‘Little Pat,” he says, pointing toward a group of young men gathering at the bar at the Boiler House Restaurant Tuesday night. You can’t…

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