Warriors weren’t about to leave qualifying for the play-offs down to the last second.
Not figuratively at least.
Just one more Premier League basketball postseason berth remains, as First Works Warriors rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit before surviving Ramon Simmons’ late three-point flurry in overtime to sneak home with a thrilling 95-93 heart-stopper against Pinelands at the YMCA on Monday.
With two regular season games still remaining, the win served as an early check-in for the Dayrells Road side (13-5), who are now guaranteed of successive play-off appearances for the first time in five seasons.
It also left a three-way scrum for the coveted fourth postseason berth among the defending champions Cavs (12-7), Jackson (11-7), and Sonics (10-8).
But that list no longer includes Pinelands (9-9) following yet another late-game collapse in their well-documented history of breakdowns that has led to four losses in the last six games. This came on the heels of the Pine squandering a 16-point lead against Clapham just five nights earlier.
So clearly a 50-39 cushion three minutes into the third quarter was to be treated as fool’s gold, even after the lead came as part of a menacing 12-0 Pinelands run to start the second half.
And like clockwork, the eventual rally came just moments later as Corey McDonald and Tremaine Shaw combined for 12 points to engineer a 16-8 surge that pulled Warriors within three (58-55).
This time, however, Pinelands seemed certain of conquering their mental demons, having opened up a seven-point advantage (65-58) to quell that rally before surviving another 7-0 run to lead 74-70 with 3:56 to play in the fourth.
It didn’t take long for Warriors to rediscover themselves though, with Shaw forcing turnovers on six of their next eight possessions to put Warriors ahead 78-76 at the 1:41 mark.
He also assisted Headley on another go-ahead basket (80-78) with 18 seconds left, only for Gary Miller to come up with the game-tying basket 12 seconds later on a nifty up-and-under move in the post.
Shaw couldn’t make good on a potential game-winning runner, though, leaving it short on Warriors’ final inbounds play.
True to form, though, Pinelands never made the third-year point guard pay for his crucial miss, with Kurt Elias air-balling his last-second hook shot before the Pine watched Warriors rattle off five successive baskets for a 93-85 lead early in overtime.
And none were as good as Headley’s huge two-handed flush, which came after the spritely forward went coast-to-coast to beat at least three defenders.
Pinelands weren’t done just yet, as Simmons hit two treys in 18 seconds before Shaw split a pair of free throws to leave the door open (94-91) with 25 seconds remaining.
But Simmons went for one triple too many, with McDonald blocking his third attempt on the ensuing possession, forcing Pinelands to foul Shaw again.
However, he split his attempts again, only to watch Miller take an ill-advised jumper just inside the arc with eight seconds still to play.
McDonald finished with 23 points, Shaw 19, and Andre Pierre 15.
Simmons led Pinelands with 23 points, Decarlo Skeete had 20 points and ten rebounds, Miller added 14 and 11, while Charles Vanderpool scored 14 points.
Earlier, second-placed Act II Popcorn Clapham Bulls (13-4) shifted their focus to getting the postseason’s top seed by thrashing Colombian Emeralds International Senators 83-47.
The game was supposed to feature Senators’ Alwyn Lovell and Clapham’s Jeremy Gill in a clash of the league’s top scorers, but quickly turned into a rout as Lovell was sidelined with a knee injury.