It’s the moment players live for – the game clock ticking down and a shot to win the game for their team. Guns’ Calvert ‘Sniper’ White had that opportunity last Saturday against defending champions East after he was left alone under the basket with under 5 seconds to play in the game.

His shot rimmed out handing East a 72-71 win before a sizeable crowd at the Multipurpose Sports Complex.

“He was between two minds, whether to dunk it or lay it up, but by the time he catch himself it was too late. Sometimes late in the game a dunk is the surest thing and not a lay up,” said Guns head coach, Derwin Scatliffe, who has lost two consecutive games since taking over the reigns following the departure of Sports Minister, Andrew Fahie.

East snatched the final lead with 23 seconds remaining in the game when David ‘Bolo’ Lettsome swiped two free throws after he was fowled on a drive to the hoop.

The defending champions turned the ball over on a travelling violation following a missed attempt by Guns’ Steve Parillon, but would prevent an inbound pass attempt.

With 4.6 seconds on the clock, White made another inbound pass attempt and found Parillon who was immediately doubled at the top of the key. With fans on their feet and screaming at roof-popping levels, Parillon lobbed a pass back to White who failed to covert the basket for the win in a see-saw fourth quarter.

“We stepped it up on the defence end. We just stick with it, called our time outs when we needed to. The Guns played real well but we played better,” said East’s coach, Verne “Bego” Turnbull said.

“Our team played with real heart that the fans are accustomed to seeing. We believed Bolo would hit those two free throws. He is a veteran player and he kept his composure,” said Turnbull.

Halstead ‘JR’ Chiverton led the East with 23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists. He was supported by Dwayne Penn’s 20 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block. Lettsome ended the game with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 assists.

“The aim was to make a run,” said Scatliffe.

“We made a run, they get back in a game and then they [East] made another run. We went to the bench, the bench stem the tide…after the bench stemmed the tide we bring back the starters, but there was a little of disunity among couple of the players and that was basically the problem that led to poor execution during the closing minutes,” Scatliffe stated.

Randy ‘ Chino ’ George, Huston Penn, White and Parillon finished with 12 points each for The Guns, who dropped an earlier season game to the defending champs in overtime.

In other league news, Da Boys sent Out Cast packing with an 85-65 victory. On Friday evening, Sandy Nadals’ game-high 29 points led Latinos to their first season victory and past Bad Boys 71-67. Long Look Bulldogs put down Squad Up, 64-489 and Full Force topped All Ball 66-27.

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