Marcus Hammonds came in clutch, knocking down the game-winner to lift Isabela City Chooks to a 21-19 overtime stunner over world no. 22 Ventspils Ghetto of Latvia, Friday evening in Mongolia.
In overtime, Armands Ginters missed a sweeping hook shot, which Aaron Rountree III rebounded. Rountree then found Hammonds on top of the arc for the game-winning deuce to seal the win.
All three teams in Pool A of the 2019 Sukhbaatar Challenger ended up with identical 1-1 records. However, both Novi Sad and Ventspils Ghetto totaled 40 points in their two games played to advance to the playoffs on Saturday. Isabela City only ended up with 35 in this tournament, which serves as a qualifier for the 2019 Jeddah Masters.
Still, it was a brave outing for Isabela City, who lost to Novi Sad earlier in the day, 14-22 (7:25).
Isabela City was down 14-18 before Hammonds found the hot hand. He knocked down back-to-back deuces to knot things up with a minute left.
Ginters scored on the inside to put Ventspils ahead by one with 40 seconds remaining, but Franky Johnson was able to answer right back with a fadeaway over the outstretched arms of Roberts Pāže.
Hammonds had 10 points, while Johnson added six markers built on two deuces.
Ventspils had a chance to steal the game with 0.5 seconds left as Gab Banal fouled Ginters. Ginters then missed the free throws to send the game into extra time.
Martins Steinbergs paced the Latvians with seven markers, while Ginters finished with six points.
The Scores:
Isabela City 21 – Hammonds 10, Johnson 6, Rountree 3, Banal 2.
Ventspils 19 – Steinbergs 7, Ginters 6, Seņkāns 4, Pāže 2.
