Pete Jacques

Leicester Riders came within an ace of letting victory turned into a crushing defeat on Wednesday.

A spectacular fourth quarter comeback by the Eagles was followed by an even more spectacular collapse in the last 2 seconds, to hand back to the Riders a game that they appeared to have had snatched from them as the hosts salvaged a 102-99 win..

Even without Malcolm Leak, the home side had been far too strong for a lacklustre Newcastle side, who appeared to have their minds more on Saturday’s uni-ball semi-final than on the task in hand. Ex-Eagle Ralph Blalock was in sparkling form against his old club, as Leicester established a 
dominating 27-point lead, 83-56, at the end of the third quarter.

Then came the remarkable turnaround, as the Eagles began to play, at both ends of the court. Steals, forced misses, and a rain of 3-pointers all contributed to an unbelievable 43 points in the fourth quarter, and with less than 20 seconds to play a basket and bonus shot gave them the lead, at 98-99.

Intense defence by the visitors once again forced a turnover, and with six seconds remaining they had the lead, they had possession … and they had the game in the bag.
Then came the remarkable climax. Surrounded by Riders’ players, and apparently not relishing the responsibility of being sent to the line after an inevitable foul, a Newcastle player threw a long pass down court, into space, to let the clock run out.

 Blalock, alive to the situation, chased the ball down, and may have just prevented it from going out of bounds in the Riders defensive half. However, Steve Ogunjimi had seen the danger, but, in trying to prevent the Riders' All-Star reaching the ball, he put the Riders’ player into the advertising boards. With 1.4 seconds on the clock a foul was called.

In disgust (whether with the decision, or more likely with his team-mate, was not clear) Donnie Johnson ripped off his shirt and headed out of the arena in the direction of the locker room. He was closely followed by two team-mates from the bench, who persuaded him to return, which he did with bad grace.

Blalock stepped to the line, and hit just one of two of the shots for Ogunjimi’s foul. The scores were level at 99-all, and overtime would have followed. However, the match officials had determined that Johnson’s behaviour warranted a Technical Foul, and when Tony Windless complained, he too had been rewarded with a “T”.

Blalock hit one more of the two further free-throws, to give Riders the lead, and when the Eagles committed a foul on the inbounds play, the next two shots were dispatched cleanly, to give no time for another Eagles comeback.
 

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