Sunday 30 November 2014 Glasgow Rocks 99-96 Worcester Wolves

There was last-second drama in Scotland on Sunday as Worcester Wolves lost only their second league match of the season, after an agonising overtime battle at Glasgow Rocks.

Rocks were in front at 96-95, with just five seconds remaining, when a long-range attempt from Wolves’ captain Alex Owumi went astray. Remi Dibo was first to snatch the rebound but was fouled by former Worcester favourite Tommy Freeman before he could get another shot off. Dibo made one of the two resultant free throws to tie the game at 96-96.

Glasgow’s coach Sterling Davis hastily requested a time-out with just three ticks left on the clock. From the re-start the ball was inbounded to point guard Jajuan Smith who banked in an unlikely shot from several feet behind the free-throw line, despite defenders’ hands in his face.

Throughout the evening neither side was able to pull decisively clear of the other. Freeman opened his scoring account with a three-pointer to make it 15-15 after six minutes had elapsed. At the close of the first quarter Dibo was on hand to rebound a miss from Chavis Holmes and float home a triple for a 20-24 Worcester advantage.

As half-time approached Wolves still held the lead at 29-36, but a late Glasgow flurry tied matters at 41-41 entering the break.

There was again a seven-point advantage at 48-55 by midway through the third quarter, but a Smith long-range success as the fourth quarter began levelled matters once more, at 65-65.

Back and forth went the lead, all the way until 16 seconds of regulation time remained. At 81-81 a time-out was called by Worcester coach Paul James, but Holmes was unable to convert from the play that was drawn up, sending the match into five minutes of overtime.

Entering the final couple of minutes there was a burst of three-pointers as the sides exchanged the lead. Freeman made it 91-90, Dibo did likewise to make it 91-93 and Smith finalised the spell to move the scoreboard to 94-93. The excitement continued until the dying moments, when Smith showed the mettle that once earned him a trial period at Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.

Paul James expressed his feelings after the contest: “It was a tough loss. The shot from Smith was a ‘Hail Mary’. But it should never have come down to that last shot. We held the lead for more than three-quarters of the match and there were several points when we should have killed them off, but then allowed them to revive. I’m pleased with the effort from the guys, but obviously disappointed with the result.”

Robert Thurman and Holmes led the Worcester scoring with 26 and 24 points respectively. Freeman tallied 18 points against his former employers.