CASEY GARRISON South Korea - Area I Warriors gave everything they had on the basketball court as they made two buzzer beater shots to take down the Area III team Humphreys 71-69 in the 8th Army Championship Jan. 30 for men 33 years old and over in Casey garrison's Carey Fitness Center.
Prior to winning the championship game the Warriors lost their first game to team Humphreys earlier in the day, but with the hopes of a season gone, the Warriors focused their thoughts on coming back to defeat team Humphreys.
"Those guys were on fire, hitting a lot of three's," said Lorenza Ross, shooting guard for the Warriors. "We felt like we did not play with a lot of intensity in the first game, so everybody said we needed to come out with a lot of intensity; pushing the ball to wear team Humphreys down. They looked like they were tired anyway, so we wanted to continue to push the ball to work in our favor." Intensity is what the Warriors brought from the beginning of the game. They won the tip off and scored their initial basket. The Warriors went on a 12-4 run spreading the ball around the floor allowing different players to score.
The Warriors hurt Humphreys' motivation with three seconds left in the first half, having the lead 35-32, they took the ball out at the opposite end of their basket but Timothy Edwards, forward for the Warriors, inbounded the ball and threw the ball at half court to beat the buzzer giving the Warriors a 6 point lead at halftime.
"We need to take care of the ball first," said Daugeril Moore, forward, we played well, but at the end of the half, we played a little sloppy. We are going to take care of the ball and run the other team down, because I think they're tired."
Less than a minute into the second half, Humphreys took a blow to their lineup as Linden McDow, point guard for team Humphreys, was carried off the court by the medics. At 14:23 McDow fired a pass to a teammate to bring the score closer, 40-36, with the Warriors still leading.
"I twisted my ankle when I was fouled," McDow said, "and I don't know why, but it just pumped me up and got me upset enough to play harder."
With 11:45 left in the game, McDow netted a 3 pointer to take the lead 43-46, but Edwards came back with a 3 pointer of his own to tie up the game.
With 2 minutes left in the game, Horace Ross, forward for the Warriors, grabs a key offensive rebound and passes the ball out to his brother Lorenza, who finds Edwards for an open 3 point basket to take the lead 67-66. McDow, who finished the game with 28 points, then knocks his third 3 pointer of the half to lead the game 69-67. The Warriors made a quick layup and forced McDow, and team Humphreys, to take another 3 pointer, but they missed the basket. The Warriors inbounded the ball with 7 seconds on the clock and called a time out.
The Warriors were placed in front of the score table, 5 feet from the half court line to inbound the ball, and Humphrey's men had a tight man-to-man defense on their opponents.
Edwards made an aggressive move for the ball, received the pass, and with only a second burned off the clock, the ball was already in the air as Edwards shot for a long half court 3 point shot.
With time still on the clock, Lorenza Ross rebounded the ball directly beneath the basket, and threw it back up before the horn could signal the game. Lorenza Ross' and Edwards' quick thinking buzzer beater baskets took down Humphreys 71-69.
"I actually thought Edwards was going to make it," Lorenza said. "I was waiting to celebrate with him, but the ball just ended up in my hands, so I just threw it up there; I was under the basket just in case."
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