Brown Beats Buzzer To Give Lions Final Playoff Place

For the second straight home-game the Manchester Giants were thwarted at the buzzer as point guard Rod Brown scored a last-gasp layup with 0.3 seconds left on the clock to send the London Lions into the BBL Playoffs with an 85-87 victory.

The Giants trailed by double digits for most of the game and found themselves down by as many as 21 points in the first half as the visitors shot the lights out in the early stages. They outscored their hosts by 48 points to 40 in the paint as the Giants struggled to prevent them getting good looks early on and they sprinted out to 20-7 advantage just five minutes into the opening period.

Tayo Ogedengbe poured in eight of his game-high 25 points in the first 10 minutes as the Lions dictated the tempo of the game early on and repeatedly engineered wide open looks close to the basket as the Giants defenders were slow to react to the Lions fast start.

The home-side made some adjustments to their defense and dropped into a 2-3 zone in an effort to crowd the paint but the visitors countered that by knocking down some outside shots and pounding the offensive glass. Adrien Sturt came off the bench to provide a big-lift for the Lions at the end of the first with back-to-back offensive rebounds and stick-back layups. The second one coming as the buzzer sounded for the end of the period which saw the visitors holding a 33-14 lead and left the capacity crowd at Wright Robinson Sports College stunned.

After a lacklustre opening quarter the Giants needed a spark if they were to keep their playoffs dreams alive and they found it in the form of Callum Jones. He scored 10 points including the first six of the period as he showed plenty of steel and determination to find his way to tip-in missed shots on back-to-back possessions. He finished with a game-high five offensive rebounds and a team-high seven rebounds on the night. His energy helped to ignite the home-side as they closed the gap to 13 points with 8:04 left in the half but they were unable to get the stops they needed to make any further inroads into the lead. Ogedengbe added eight more including four of five from the free-throw line and Brown poured in seven as the Lions racked up 58 points in the first half.

The third quarter followed a similar pattern as the Giants inability to get stops hurt their chances of slicing into the deficeit. Mike Martin scored with a runner in the lane and Ogedengbe added another from the stripe to put the visitors up 48-64 with 7:25 left in the period. The home-side picked up their intensity at the defensive end and after forcing some missed shots were able to get out in transition. Ben Eaves began to make his presence felt with a run of nine-straight points for the home side. His two-handed jam made it 57-66 with 4:56 to go in the period. The Giants then squandered a chance to get even closer as they missed four-straight free-throws and on the next Lions possession Brown found Ogedengbe for a layup to put the visitors back up by double digits. Callum Jones knocked down a pair from the line to bring the lead back down to nine but the Lions closed the period with a 7-2 run to push their advantage back up to 14 points with 10 minutes left to play and the Giants Playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

The visitors increased their lead at the start of the fourth with a long jumper from Jordan Spencer before Ogedengbe scored along the baseline as he was fouled. He knocked down the free-throw for the extra point to give his team a 61-80 lead with 8:14 remaining in the game. With their backs to the wall and their season hanging in the balance the Giants made a push to stay in the game; scoring 10 unanswered points as they roared back into contention. Gill started the flurry with a triple before James Jones made his way to the cup for the basket and one. David Aliu drilled a jumper from the baseline and Jones added another score from close range to make it 71-80 with 4:38 left to play.

After a Lions time-out Mike Martin scored their first field-goal for nearly four minutes to put them back up by double-digits but the Giants continued to force the issue as they refused to go down without a fight. They went on a 9-0 run capped by a driving layup from Callum Jones with 48 seconds left to close the gap to just two points at 80-82 to whip the home-crowd into a frenzy.

Rod Brown calmly knocked down a pair of free-throws on the Lions next possession but Gill found Aliu open on the arc and the Giants forward drilled a huge 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to cut the Lions lead to just a single point. Spencer went to the line for the visitors with an opportunity to put his side up by three but he only made one of two from the stripe leaving the door open for the Giants to tie the game or take the lead. They isolated Gill on the left side of the floor and the Manchester guard used a devastating crossover to free himself before getting all the way to the basket for a left-handed layup with nine seconds remaining to tie the game.

With no time-outs left the Lions went straight down the court looking for a quick score. Brown took the ball all the way to the rack and released a high-arcing shot on the run that hit the back of the rim and bounced up before slowly dropping through the net with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock to send the Lions into the Playoffs and leave the Giants on the outside looking in.

It was a cruel way end to the game and a devastating blow for the Giants who looked to have done enough to earn an additional five minutes of overtime to prove their Playoff worth but were ultimately made to play for their slow start to the game.

Stefan Gill spoke post-game on his side’s rollercoaster of a Friday night: ” Starting out we had a lack of energy and application. They were allowed too many second and third chance opportunities. Poor offensive execution is one thing but there’s no excuse for lack of defensive effort. They hit a very high percentage of their shots to start the game as well.

“We finally made an adjustment and changed our defensive style of the play to be more aggressive and put them under pressure. We also increased our tempo offensively.”

The key moment was obviously the end, but what exactly happened out there, Gill explained in more detail: “We froze and thought there would be a timeout called, but we didn’t pressure the inbound and there was a mad scramble. Their guard fumbled the ball from half court all the way to the basket.

“As a fierce competitor I hate to lose any competition. But losing a game like that one, so close to winning, hurts even more as you live with hindsight for the next 24-48 hours.”

Even with one final game to go, Gill has half an eye on next season’s campaign, whomever it is he is playing for: “I plan to get straight back to work. As a professional, trying to improve never stops. I plan on improving in all areas of my game which will put me in a better position to help whatever team I’m on. The results of a game may not always be within my control but I can always increase the probability of success by being and giving my best every time I lace my shoes up.”

Now Manchester Giants go into their final match with the Durham Wildcats and both teams will be looking to secure 9th position to decide the head-to-head. If Giants win, they take 9th place, if Durham are victorious they consign all three North West sides to the bottom of the BBL Championship.

Starting Fives

Manchester Giants: Devan Bailey, James Jones, David Watts, David Aliu, Ben Eaves
London Lions: Rod Brown, Perry Lawson, Michael Martin, Orlan Jackman, Tayo Ogedengbe

Top Scorers

Manchester Giants – David Aliu 20, Ben Eaves 17, Callum Jones 16
London Lions – Tayo Ogedengbe 25, Rod Brown 18, Mike Martin 14

Play of the game

Rod Brown’s last gasp runner which crushed the Giants Playoff dreams and booked his side a place in the post-season. The Giants players expected the visitors to call time-out and draw up a final game-winning play but Brown’s quick thinking and cool-head allowed him to get the best possible shot with time about to expire and lead his side into a Playoff matchup with the high-flying Leicester Riders.

Game MVP

Tayo Ogedengbe – 25 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 8-of-10 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free throw line. The ultra-athletic Lions forward scored 16 of his points in the opening 20 minutes as led his team to an early lead and helped to settle their nerves early. It’s not hard to see why he leads the league in free-throw attempts this season as he is constantly on the attack leaving defenders no choice but to put him at the line. He scored two important baskets in the third period to stop the Giants’ momentum as they tried to make their comeback and crashed the glass with ferocity all night long finishing with a team high 8 boards.