The second most exciting play of a great game took place when Bassel Harfouch, with his Titans trailing 104-102 with three minutes remaining, saved the ball under his own bucket, getting the ball to Tray Boyd III who sent a long outlet pass to Terry Winn. Winn went up for layup but was chased down by Carolina’s Deshaw Andrews who came up with the LeBron-like block from behind to start a fast break going the other way. The ball found its way to the Coyote’s Marshall Lange who went up for the lay-in and had it sent back and out of bounds thanks to a sensational block by Patrick Burnett, whose head was nearly level with the rim when he made the denial. Energized, Tampa would score on consecutive possessions to take a two-point lead. The two teams would trade buckets over the next several possessions before Tray Boyd III hit a running left-handed floater with a high degree of difficulty to give the home team Titans a 110-108 lead with 25.8 seconds left.
Carolina’s Vernon Jackson Jr missed a wild layup and fell to the ground with a lower leg injury. A game of volleyball ensued on the rebound and with 6.8 remaining the referees called a controversial jump ball to be administered at Tampa’s defensive free throw line. The game’s most exciting play was just about to take place. Carolina seeking a miracle without their top scorer, as VJJ was forced to the bench. Terry Winn would win the jump for Tampa, knocking the ball backwards to the baseline where Harfouch gathered it and put the ball on the ground to run out the clock. But Jackson Jr’s replacement, Isaiah Hobbs, made a miraculous steal in the corner, quickly turned with the ball, put in a well-contested, flying layup as the horn sounded, and drew the foul. A stunned Tampa crowd, and a stunned Tampa team watched as Hobbs poured in his 20th point of the game with no time remaining to give the Coyotes a shocking, thrilling 11-110 victory.
One might think that the Titans, after numerically being eliminated from the playoffs on Friday night, would come out flat against Gulf Coast in the Sunday matinee, but that would be erroneous. Boyd III, Winn and Recio all topped the 20-point mark, Harfouch recorded a double-double, and Tampa poured in 133 points. Unfortunately, though, Gulf Coast was hot from downtown, knocking down 16 triples, which accounted for a 15-point differential between the two teams in that category, and sealed the 138-133 win for the visiting Lions.
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