Rhys Elliott had just three seconds to turn on the jets and try to become the hero for the UNBC Timberwolves.
For the T-wolves, there was nobody wearing the green, gold and white they would rather have try to spoil the day Saturday for the Fraser Valley Cascades, like they did the previous night when they handed the visitors from Abbotsford their first loss of the CIS Canada West Conference season.
Elliott snatched the rebound after a wide-open Navjot Bains missed a close-range shot on the inbound play. The Australian import had enough speed left in his legs to lose the crowd and his radar was well-tuned, having already nailed 24 points, more than anyone else on the court Saturday at the Northern Sport Centre.
The joint was rocking to its own beat as screaming UNBC fans sensing a comeback alternated hand-claps with footstomps in a rhythmic solo of humanity which built to a fever pitch seconds earlier when T-wolves guard Billy Chung hit his last of three treys to get to within two points of the Cascades.
By the time Elliott crossed midcourt he about a second on the clock. The ball left his hands from three-point range and everybody in the gym held their collective breath. But in their final home game of 2015 leading into the semester break, the T-wolves' rally fizzled when the ball bounced off the backboard, hit the rim and missed the net. The Cascades left with a 74-72 victory.
"I had a clean look at the rim and it didn't sink for us but in the last five minutes we put our feet on the pedal and we dug deep when we needed to," said Elliott, a fourth-year guard from Adelaide.
"We got some decent defensive boards, we swung the ball on offence and got some good lucks but that's just the way it goes."
Riding the hot hands of their shooting guards, Kevon Parchment and Vijay Dhillon, the Cascades built a 59-45 lead by three-quarter time. But with Elliott, Cheng filling the net and Colin Plumb plucking rebounds, the undersized T-wolves outworked and outscored their opponents
27-15 in the final 10 minutes.
Cascades head coach Adam Friesen was relieved to see his team rebound from Friday's 81-74 loss.
"This is a tough place to play, UNBC has great leaders and they never stop competing and that's a great skill that will work well for them all season," said Friesen.
"This is a good environment, the crowd was into the basketball game, making noise when the home team hits shots and makes big plays and that makes it hard on the visiting team. You definitely feel the community is behind the basketball team. I was happy we could come away with the split."
The Cascades were deserving of their lead after 30 minutes. Dhillon collected 20 points and Parchment totalled 16. Bains and Matt Cooley won their share of board battles, each with 11 rebounds. But they had their hands full trying to slow the surging T-wolves.
"We've had a bit of a habit of giving up some leads this season and making games a little closer than they should be but give UNBC all the credit, they fought back and made big shots and really brought a lot of energy in the fourth quarters of both games and gave themselves a chance for the sweep," said Friesen. "We needed every single point to win this one."
Cheng triggered Friday's comeback with eight unanswered points in the third quarter while the T-wolves took control with a 10-point run. But their magic act was a bit late appearing in the rematch. Cheng finished with 14 points and went 3-for-6 from three-point land.
Cheng was convinced when he saw Elliott toss up the last shot, UNBC had the game in the bag.
"I thought it was going in, it's Rhys, he's always clutch, he did a nice move, pump-faked and it just happened to miss," said Cheng.
The Cascades (5-1) remained in a tie first in the Explorer Division, while UNBC (2-4) grabbed a share of fourth place with Grant MacEwan.
WOMEN DROP TWO GAMES TO FRASER VALLEY
In the women's game earlier Saturday, Kayli Sartori and Taylor Claggett scored 23 and 17 points respectively to lift Fraser Valley to a 78-67 win over UNBC, completing a two-game sweep. The home team's loss overshadowed another stellar performance from rookie T-wolves guard Maria Mongomo, who sunk a game-high 29 points.
"They always have very experienced players so I believe it was a pretty good result and some moments were really very good and I'm happy that our first- and second-year team shows pretty mature basketball from time to time," said UNBC women's head coach Sergey Shchepotkin. "Maria had 29 points today and 19 (on Friday) and that's a really good result. We still have a lot of things to work on but it gives me big hope in the future. It's just a matter of time. I think it's getting better and better."
Shchepotkin was also impressed with rookie guard and defensive specialist Issy Bourque, who had one steal and a pair of offensive rebounds in 19 minutes of playing time Saturday.
Fraser Valley beat UNBC 80-68 on Friday. Their back-to-back wins in Prince George moved the Cascade women (4-2) into a second-place tie with Thompson Rivers. The T-wolves (0-6) will travel to Calgary next weekend to meet the winless (0-6) Mount Royal Cougars.
