ALBANY – On a night he scored only three points, guard Trevis Wyche helped the Albany Patroons make the defensive stand that preserved a crucial The Basketball League playoff victory.
He contested Brandon Taylor’s missed 3-pointer as time expired in Albany’s 90-87 victory over the Atlantic City Gambits on Thursday in Game 1 of their best-of-3 Northeast Division finals at the Washington Avenue Armory.
After Albany’s Arsenio Arrington made two foul shots with 8.4 seconds left for a three-point lead, Atlantic City pushed the ball upcourt with no timeouts. Gambits guard Frank Turner threw a bounce pass to Taylor, who took shot over Wyche’s outstretched hand that hit the backboard and deflected off the front rim.
“I just ran out there, ” Wyche said. “I knew it was coming. I know Frank is a good player, so I knew he that he saw he needed a 3, so I knew he was going to get it to (Taylor). It was a defensive game for me today … My guys stepped up on offense I was just in there to play defense and just control the game.”
Wyche, who shot 1 for 5, was well under his team-high average of 20.3 points per game.
Patroons guard Jamil Hood, a Green Tech alumnus, also made an important stop on the previous Atlantic City possession. With Albany nursing an 88-87 lead, he defended Turner on a spin dribble and missed righty drive off the backboard. Arrington got the rebound and was fouled.
Patroons head coach Derrick Rowland said he put Hood in the game for his defense.
“Just try to make (Turner) second-guess himself,” Hood said. “He’s a threat. Coach gave us the whole entire scouting report on him. So basically we’re just trying to get him uncomfortable, out of his pace.”
Arrington had 20 points and Mustapha Traore scored 14 off the bench for the Patroons, who head to Atlantic City for Game 2 on Saturday and Game 3 on Sunday, if necessary.
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