by Justin Marville March 18th 2008

Pinelands nip Patriots to remain undefeated

With a line-up that boasts many an accomplished Premier League player it was an unheralded reserve that would come through for Pinelands in the clutch.

Backup point guard Steve Sealy scored a crucial lay-up and added a free throw in the game’s dying moments as the former Premier League club squeezed out a narrow 67-65 home win against title contenders Patriots on Sunday in the latest action of the BABA Intermediate Division.

Despite a combined 39 points from star forwards Gary Miller and Ryan Maynard, the home side only found itself leading by one point, 66-65, within the last minute of the fourth still needing a couple of plays down the stretch to ensure victory.

Sealy provided them.

Matched up against guard Jehnard Brewster with under a minute remaining, the overlooked reserve blew by the diminutive shooting guard on the left wing, deftly laying up over 6’8” national forward George Haynes at the basket to put his side ahead 66-63 with thirty seconds remaining.

The Patriots then missed a quick shot at the other end of the floor and were forced to foul veteran forward Trevor Small to stop the clock.

Small would leave the door open however, failing to convert both ensuing free throw attempts leading to Patriots ‘big man’ Anthony White getting away at the other end for an easy lay-up to reduce the deficit to one point.

Having to foul once more to stop the clock, the visitors intentionally wrapped up Sealy and sent him to the charity stripe with four seconds remaining in hopes of getting one last possession to either force overtime or win the game.

But Sealy would make good on one of his two shots from the line and then watched at the other end as opposing swingman Julian Walcott missed a potential game winning three pointer as time expired to seal the dramatic victory.

Despite a strong start offensively from the prolific Miller, the visiting Patriots side managed to hold their own early in the first quarter, getting some key baskets in the paint from centre Kevin Lashley while guard Stevenson Callender exposed the Pine in the open court.

Maynard would also get going in the first quarter, joining Miller in taking advantage of the lesser experienced opposition in the key but Pinelands could only muster a 17-16 advantage at the end of the period as the Patriots’ strong transition game kept them in the contest.

Both sides traded baskets back and forth to start the ensuing quarter until the Pine was forced to bring in its reserves, resulting in the Patriots scoring six unanswered points off transition lay-ups from Walcott and Rawle Conway to take a 26-20 lead midway through the quarter.
But Miller would respond to ignite a run of his own, scoring five quick points to spark a subsequent 14-2 Pinelands surge as the home side dominated the key at both ends of the floor while creating some timely turnovers which led to points in the open court on offence.

Leading 35-32 after the half-time break, Pinelands opened the third quarter with yet another run and had seemingly grabbed full control of the game after opening up a double digit lead for most of the period.

The visitors found it almost impossible to contain Maynard and Miller in the paint at the offensive end while Pinelands’ sting man defence created problems at the other side of the court.

However, the Pine failed to put away their opposition after taking a 49-39 lead, missing several easy opportunities around the basket while failing to convert from the charity stripe thus allowing the opposition to forge a comeback in the fourth quarter.

Miller led all scorers on the night with 22 points, Maynard finished with 17 and Kirk Patrick chipped in with 10 points. For the Patriots, White top scored with 14 points while Haynes and Walcott ended with 11 and 10 points respectively