11:51am Tuesday 16th March 2010
By Chris Phillips
ESSEX Pirates star Taner Adu sunk Plymouth Raiders with a stunning buzzer-beating shot to send the Southend Leisure and Tennis crowd crazy.
But the decisive and dramatic last-gasp three-pointer, which secured an exciting 82-80 triumph for his side, was not what had been planned by Pirates coach Tim Lewis.
And Adu had instead been expected to get much closer to the basket for the final play of Saturday’s game.
“The coach called a time out to go through what we were to do and said that he didn’t want us going for a three-pointer,” said the 26-year-old.
“We had 2.4 seconds to score which is quite a long time in basketball but when I got the ball I was aware that time was running out and that I wasn’t going to get any closer so I had to take it on.”
“I was just praying it was going to go in and when it left my hand I thought it had a chance.
“But to see it actually go in was just the best feeling of the season so far and I’m so happy we won.”
The fantastic finale was celebrated wildly by Pirates’ fans who raced on to the court to celebrate with the team.
However, the Southend-based side had earlier been slow out of the blocks and trailed 27-18 before Jamell Anderson netted an amazing three-pointer from his own half right at the end of the first quarter.
That sparked the home side in to life and five points from Pirates captain Dean Williams in a 7-0 burst put them 35-32 in front.
Anthony Rowe and Anthony Martin combined to regain the lead for Raiders but Anderson sparked an 11-0 response from Pirates who led 46-40 at half-time.
Raiders battled hard to regain the lead on the back of four consecutive triples from Allister Gall and they had a 62-56 advantage heading into the final period.
But Sam Toluwase instigated a 10-2 start with four points as Pirates took the lead at 66-64.
The lead then swapped hands several times before a three-pointer from Andrew Lasker and a basket from Rowe put Plymouth 79-76 in front with 1.11 minutes of the match remaining.
Adu levelled the scores with a three-pointer but Martin then netted one of his two free throws following a controversial refereeing decision to put Raiders back ahead with just 2.4 seconds remaining.
That seemed to have settled the match but Pirates amazingly hit back to have the final say of an enthralling encounter as Adu landed a three-pointer from the left hand side of the basket to leave coach Lewis delighted.
“I’m really pleased for the players because they got what they deserved and kept going right until the end,” said Lewis.
“It was a fantastic way to win and I’m delighted to have given our fans something to really shout about.”
Adu top-scored for Pirates with 22 points, but the impressive Alan Metcalfe also played a huge part in the triumph as he netted 21.
The victory ended a run of four successive defeats for Pirates who have now beaten Raiders twice this season.
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