For the second week running, Erks snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a final minute of madness, fouls, turnovers and completely ignoring the specific instructions of coach McCusker during two separate time outs in the last thirty seconds.

Erks had started brightly and finished the first quarter leading by 18 points to 14.  However a 10 point swing to Gintaras meant that Gintaras went into half time leading 39 to 33.

At the start of the second half, Gintaras went out to a 13 point lead midway through the third quarter and it looked as though Gintaras were going to pull away.  However, in line with previous games, Mark Denchfield (who generally turns up at tip off time and then misses all this shots in the first half through not having time to warm up) eventually found his range and sunk a succession of 3 pointers in the final two quarters to tie the scores at 71 - 71 with one minute to go.

Erks found themselves with the ball with the score tied at 71 and just over thirty seconds remaining.  Although the coach's instructions were to make sure that Erks took their time, or drew a foul on a good look to the basket, a bizarre Churches jump shot with six seconds gone into the offence gave Gintaras the ball and a full twenty four seconds to dictate the outcome of the game.  A needless foul by Erks put Gintaras on the line with fifteen seconds to go.  When Daglizis missed the first the first free through and hit the second, the game was still there for the taking by the Erks.  However, an acute angle in bound play from under their own basket saw Erks turn the ball over, give the ball back to Gintaras and foul Daglizis once again.

A further time out by the Erks resulted in specific instructions as to whether none, one or both of the three throws were successful.  Déjà vu then took place as Daglizis missed the first free throw, hit the second and all instructions went out the window with the wrong person in bounding the basketball from directly under the basket to cause yet another sloppy in bound pass, a subsequent turnover and a layout for Gintaras to secure yet another victory.

Erks scorers:
D Churches - 23, K Pringle - 16, C Pringle - 14, M Denchfield - 15, M Overare - 2, D McCusker - 1, G Sims, L Atkinson, D Agbolegbe.

Report posted: 29/02/08