By John Harden/sports editor
Team Black trailed Head Huntas for all but the final 60 seconds where Black mounted a surprising comeback energized by Huntas’ careless mistakes last week in the South Campus basketball championship.
It seemed over in the final minute of the second half when Huntas’ Jaquan Smith scored the fast-break basket giving his team a three-point lead over Black, 48-45.
Facing defeat, Black fouled on the inbound to send Patrick Wyatt to the free-throw line. After missing the first free throw, Wyatt also missed the second but managed to pull down the rebound. Teammate Lee Calton quickly called a timeout after the rebound, but his team had no timeouts left and was charged with a technical foul resulting in a free throw for Black.
“That could cost them the game,” said referee Rodney Fannin. “If he would have just held the ball and not called the timeout, they would’ve won. I guess he was channeling Chris Webber out there,” referring to the Michigan player who did the same thing in the 1993 national championship game.
Kevin Ingram buried the free throw pulling his team within two. After the free throw, the Huntas’ leading scorer, Jaquan Smith, who had 22 points, was ejected for showing disrespect to a referee. Once more, Black was sent to the line. Rodney Jackson, like Ingram, buried his free throw, cutting the deficit to one.
Black, maintaining possession after the free throw, entrusted the ball in the hands of David Lyons. Lyons, who appeared to be absent for most of the game, appeared just as his team needed him.
With half a minute left, Lyons faked left, taking his defender off balance, spun right, pulled up from mid-range and buried the wide-open shot.
Lyons gave his team its first lead, 49-48.
With 30 seconds left, Huntas had an opportunity to answer back, but Black’s leading scorer Robert Lewis, who ended the game with 18 points, stole the ball on the inbound and was fouled and sent to the line.
Lewis gave his team a 51-48 lead, burying both free throws. Lewis once more managed to steal the next inbound pass, sealing his team’s victory. Huntas fouled Rodney Jackson, resulting in a trip to the line where he buried both free throws.
In a stunning comeback, Black defeated the Huntas and won the South title, 53-48.
“They shouldn’t have won this game, and they know it,” said intramural director Michael Daniels. “They got lucky, and now they got to learn from their mistakes before the big district game.”
The championship basketball teams from each campus will compete in a district competition April 11 on South Campus.
Each team plays three games, and the team to go undefeated will win the all-district title.
If a tie occurs, the winner will be determined by the number of points scored in all three games, and the team with the most points will be declared the winner.
Lyons says his team has a good chance to go far in the all-district tournament even though it faced elimination in the campus tournament.
“I believe we have the talent and that the talent is there,” Lyons said. “But we can’t afford to step up in the last 5 minutes of a game. We have to be able to play the entire 40 [minutes].”
