Deciding game is Friday in Princeton
By: Bob Nuse
It didn’t take long for Asmar Fortney to learn about the mystique of playing for Tiger’s Tale in the Princeton Recreation Men’s Summer Basketball League.
"I had heard there is a rich tradition in this league with Tiger’s Tale," said Fortney, who is in his first season with the team that has won the league championship eight of the 12 years of league play. "I know this team has been winning for a long time and this is my first year on the team, but my background has always been that you’re never out of it until the game is over.
"That’s the same way these guys think on this team."
So, even though Tiger’s Tale lost the first game of the best-of-three championship series to Dana Communications, 52-48, Monday night, and even though the defending league champions trailed by eight points with one minute to play in Wednesday’s second game, there was never a doubt they’d make a run at a win.
Tiger’s Tale outscored Dana Communications 10-2 over the final minute to force an overtime, then pulled out a 56-54 win to even the championship series. The third and deciding game will be played 7:30 p.m. tonight at Community Park in Princeton.
"When they got that dunk to put them up eight, we still thought we had a chance to win it," said Fortney, who finished the game with 16 points, including five in the final minute of regulation. "We knew if we made our shots we could still pull it out because they were going to have to make shots at the line."
Trailing 50-42, Fortney’s three-pointer with 58 seconds left pulled Tiger’s Tale to within five points. A basket and foul shot by Blitz Wooten then cut the margin to 50-48. A pair of free throws by Gyl Vaught gave Dana Communications a four-point lead, but Tiger’s Tale scored the final four points on a basket by MarShawn Ferguson and a shot by Fortney with 20 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.
In overtime, Fortney scored with 1:25 left to give Tiger’s Tale a 54-52 lead. Vaught’s free throws tied the score with one minute left. A Khaliq Lewis free throw with 34 seconds left made it 55-54, and another Lewis free throw with 10 seconds left made it 56-54.
Wooten finished with a game-high 19 points to lead Tiger’s Tale. Vaught had 18 and Derick Grant added 14 for Dana Communications.
In Monday’s opening game, Vaught led Dana Communications with 17 points, while Fortney had 18 for Tiger’s Tale.
"I think as long as we play our game, it will be tough for anybody to beat us," said Fortney, who will miss tonight’s title game due to a previous commitment. "I like playing with these guys. I already knew MarShawn and I knew Blitz, Pat (Davis) and Khaliq from playing at Cadwalder Park.
"It didn’t take long to fit in. These guys are real experienced in this league and that makes a big difference. We’ve been in close games like this all year. We never blow anybody out. But we’re used to playing in these close games."
Fortney has stepped right in and made a difference for Tiger’s Tale, which will look for a ninth championship tonight.
"I found out about the team from MarShawn and it’s been a lot of fun playing with these guys," said Fortney, who played his high school basketball at Middlesex High. "This is a good league with good competition. But these are the guys who have been winning every year and they weren’t going to give up, even when we were down late in the game."
As Dana Communications found out, no lead is safe against the mystique of Tiger’s Tale.