Graham's bucket with .7 left lifts Slam over Volcanoes
Published on May 23, 2009 under International Basketball League (IBL)
Bellingham Slam News Release
VANCOUVER, Wash. - Ira Graham's swooping reverse lay-in with under a second left helped the Bellingham Slam defeat the Vancouver Volcanoes, 106-104, in a non-conference International Basketball League contest at the O'Connell Sports Complex Saturday.
Graham's winning play, already dubbed "The shot heard around Clark County", capped a hard-fought game that featured huge momentum swings but only five lead changes. The win will easily go down as the most dramatic in the Slam's four-year history.
The Slam started out the game ice cold, and found themselves down 36-17 after the first quarter. Vancouver started the game making their first ten of eleven shots from the floor, while Bellingham struggled offensively, shooting just 24 percent in the period.
The latter portions of the second quarter saw the Slam execute another of their renowned comebacks, as they outscored the Volcanoes 24-6 in the final five minutes to cut their deficit to six, 57-51.
The Slam continued their comeback after halftime, using a sustained effort to take their first lead since the game's opening moments, 72-71, on a lay-in by Paul Hafford with 4:38 left in the third quarter.
The Volcanoes made things very interesting in the fourth quarter, as they trimmed a seven-point Slam lead down to one on three straight buckets with less than 90 seconds to play.
A single free-throw by Tyler Amaya with 30 seconds left gave the Slam a two-point lead, 104-102, before the Volcanoes' Kevin Tyner drew a shooting foul on a botched play with 21 seconds left. Bellingham had fouls to give, but the crafty Tyner went for a shot as he was expecting the Slam to foul. Tyner went on to hit both charity shots and tie the game, setting up Graham's buzzer-beating heroics.
The Volcanoes still had a chance to win, with .7 seconds left, but Brad Lechtenberg fumbled the ball out of bounds as time expired.
Amaya led the Slam with 33 points on 7-for-10 shooting from three-point range. Jacob Stevenson added 24 points, while Graham finished with nine.
Jake Carlisle led four Volcanoes players in double figures with 23 points. Tyler was not far behind with 21.
The Slam return home for the first time in over two weeks as they take on the Vancouver Titans on Monday, in a special half-price matinee game. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at Whatcom Pavilion.
For more information, contact the Slam at (360) 734-SLAM or visit their website at www.bellinghamslam.com.
International Basketball League Stories from May 23, 2009
- Graham's bucket with .7 left lifts Slam over Volcanoes - Bellingham Slam
- Explosion Head Coach to suit up tonight for second game in Edmonton - Snohomish County Explosion
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
