Keydren Clark took over in the second half for Team Nike. (Erin Edwards)
Anthony Glover had done this before. He just couldn’t remember when.
The former Rice and St. John’s standout was headed to the free throw line with three seconds to play in overtime and Team Nike’s down one.
“I was nervous for the first one,” said Glover, a Bronx native. “When I made the first one I knew the second was going to drop.”
He made both and Dwight Hardy’s contested 3-pointer fell short on the other end as Team Nike held on for a thrilling 71-70 win over rival Ooh-Way Records for the Dyckman championship in front of a standing-room crowd of more than 3,000 people at Monsignor Kett Park Wednesday night.
It capped a stellar extra session for Glover, whose younger brother Mike played for Ooh-Way. He scored six of his 13 points in overtime, including two baskets in the post against Darren Phillip. Team Nike advances to the Nike Tournament of Champions Sunday back at Dyckman.
“That was just part of the goal we had was to win this tournament,” said Glover, who let loose an army salute after making the second. “Our last goal is to win TOC.”
It was the third him in his career he made the game-winning free throws in a pressure-packed situation. He won a CHSAA intersectional title for Rice in 1996 with two and did the same against Miami in the semifinals of the 2000 Big East tournament.
Glover said he wasn’t thinking about them until someone reminded him after the game. Team Nike guard and former Rice alum Keydren Clark remembered right way.
“I knew he was going to make it,” said Clark, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
Kenny Satterfield led Team Nike with 17 points and Adris (2 Hard 2 Guard) DeLeon added 11, including eight of Team Nike’s first 10 to open the second half. Sundiata Gaines paced Ooh-Way with 21 points and helped his team open up a 49-40 lead with a 3-pointer from the left side with 5:14 left to play in regulation.
Phillip had 19 points and Dwight Hardy added 16, but it wasn’t enough for a second victory over Team Nike. Ooh-Way won the regular season meeting, 66-61, in a contest dubbed the Game of the Century. The rematch was just as memorable as Ooh-Way led 70-69 on a Hardy short jumper with 13.5 left in the extra session.
““We wanted it bad,” said DeLeon, who his first title at his home park. “We fought. It wasn’t easy. … I don’t have to win one no more. I got my championship.”
Glover’s heroics wouldn’t have been possible without Clark’s hot shooting and toughness late in the second half. Ooh-Way took a 52-46 lead with 3:26 left on a Phillip put back. After a Glover layup Clarke drained a 3-pointer from the right side. On the next possession he answered a Gaines layup in traffic with a trey from the corner to put Team Nike up 54-53 with 2:16 left in regulation.
Clark’s four free throws at the end of regulation may have had a higher level of difficulty then Glover’s two. He made 1-of-2 with 37.3 seconds left to pull Team Nike within one. Those came after the game was delayed 20 minutes after Team Nike coach Bingo Cole said a referee called a technical foul on Ooh-Way’s bench for charging the court after a foul call, only to see the technical call retracted.
Cole was at first refusing to continue unless the technical was reinstated. Clark eventually made both after falling hard on his hand to tie the score at 61-61 and send the game to overtime.
“He said ‘No, I’m not coming out the game,’” Cole said. “He said, ‘I’m going to hit the free throw and I am going to win this game.’”
When what was finally accomplished, the celebration was on. DeLeon grabbed the net and did pull ups on the rim. Glover dumped ice water on Cole, while others exchanged hugs with family and friends.
“Dealing with all the adversity, the hate, the commercial stuff and everything we went through all summer long, [it feels great],” Cole said. “It means so much not only to meet Ooh-Way, a great team. It means so much to win the championship we set out for.”