By Floyd Christie
The Faculty of Natural Sciences are the champions of the University of Guyana Inter Faculty Basketball Competition for the second straight year after their captain Hugh Arthur sealed a 70-69 points win from the free throw line with zero seconds on the clock in the final of the competition at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday.
Arthur went on to equal his thirty points scored in game two of the preliminary round as he effectively used his speed to get past the technology defenders seemingly at will.
Natural Sciences came into the match-up as the underdogs but trailed closely behind the powerful Technology squad on the scoreboard and took the Inter Faculty finale right down to the wire.
The drama which then unfolded between players and officials over fouls called by the referees during crunch time, sent tempers flaring, causing free throws to eventually determine who would emerge the winner.
Technology secured a comfortable lead and seemed to have the game in the bag, but the relentless Natural Sciences team came to within four points at the start of the final minute when the controversy began. As the final 60 seconds ticked away and with no timeouts remaining for either team, which meant no time to rest and regroup, Natural Sciences resorted to the option of fouling their opponents in a last ditch effort to keep themselves in the game.
This resulted in Natural Science’s Semyon Fung being fouled out after picking up his fifth foul. The player was unwilling to leave the court and was adamant that he was not fouled out as he argued with officials that he only had four fouls. He eventually returned to the bench after being instructed again by the referee.
The fouls continued on both ends with both teams being awarded free throws as a result. Another debate ensued between the Natural Sciences players and the officials as they felt they were robbed of time when they hurriedly tried to foul a Technology player with two seconds remaining. Their captain Arthur angrily stressed to the officials that the time should’ve been stopped immediately after the foul was committed and not left to run until 0.6 seconds remained. He argued that the clock should be reset. This however was not done and he was restrained by his teammates from again approaching the officials to argue his case.
Technology now had a chance on the free throw line to extend their now one point lead and put themselves in a comfortable winning position. However, both free throw attempts were missed by the Technology shooter and they too found themselves confronting the officials after a loose ball foul was called against them while contesting the rebound.
The Technology bench was furious with the call and argued that the 0.6 seconds on the clock should’ve already been expired before the foul was called. Their center Rudy James in frustration began to verbally abuse the officials with explicit language and was given a technical foul, giving Natural Sciences two free throws and a chance to win the game.
The efficiency of Arthur on the free throw line raised the hopes of the Natural Sciences and Arthur duly sank both free throws. He cockily teased the Technology bench and fans after scoring the first and sent the Natural Science fans into uproar after he netted the second which secured the win for his team with zero seconds on the clock.
Richard Mohandatt once again stepped on the gas in the second half and was the lead scorer for Technology with 28 points.
