An action packed night would feature three of the top seeds battling for position, two other teams fighting for their playoff lives, and highlighted by the Div 1 Championship game featuring the two time Vancouver Metro league champs The Stallions vs the patchwork but always dangerous Team SWAT!
In their only meeting of the season, The Stallions edged SWAT 58-55. Both teams were short handed on that day, both were full strength on this night. With SWAT’s leading scorer Javari Williams not starting, The Stallions jumped out to a big early lead. Roger Sheung and Brian Host scored the first 17 points for The Stallions! Throughout the first half The Stallions put pressure on SWAT’s undersized roster, and getting to the foul line to make 21 first half free throws! Almost like clockwork, SWAT began to close the gap near the end of the 1st half. Sparked by a 22 foot three pointer by Nate Lawerence, SWAT began the climb back into the game. Javari Williams and Tony #10 combined for 33 of SWAT’s 52 point first half.
As the game continued to be a chess match of matchups and mismatches, The Stallions went on a mid 2nd half 12-0 run capped off with a 2nd three pointer by Neb Aleksic! A quick time out led to the regrouping of Team SWAT, and the grind would begin again. With some late half full court and half court trapping, SWAT brought the lead under double digits with less than 5 minutes left in the game. To make matters more interesting, Steven Collins and Clint Lomax fouled out within 3-4 minutes of each other, leaving SWAT very small at the absolute wrong time. The Stallions had two key foul outs late in Brian Host and Andre Ameilda. It didn’t seem like advantage for SWAT, but it sure did turn out to be! With less than 2 minutes left, SWAT was able to cut the 8 point lead down to 2 with two timely 3 pointers by Lonzell Webster! Neb and Roger were fouled on consecutive possessions, and made the first 7 free throws. Roger and the Stallions would need the 8th free throw to fall, after a banked in three pointer cut the lead to 1 with 5 seconds left in the game!
Stallions 111 – SWAT 109
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