Ipswich win an overtime thriller over London Westside

Josh Johnson on the run (Image: Rainywood Photography)

Ipswich 99

London Westside 89 (OT)

Reeling from two straight losses, Ipswich’s Senior Men’s side really came of age in one of the most memorable games seen in Suffolk in recent years.

London started well to jump to an early 13-6 lead, forcing Ipswich to take a time out to try to steady the ship.

The home side duly fought back strongly, and with a minute to go in the first period they had reduced the arrears to 18-14.

Moments later a huge three pointer by Aaron Moseley took Ipswich into their first lead of the game, but a London basket at the death saw the teams tied at 20-20 at the end of the first period.

The second period began with the teams trading blows like two prize fighters.

Both teams were playing excellent defence, with neither giving away easy baskets.

Then, thanks largely to a 9-0 spurt, the half ended with London up by 10 points, 47-37.

The pattern continued in the third, which ended with London even further ahead at 65-53, despite a huge block by Ipswich’s star big man Leigh Greenan.

But the final quarter of this game will go down as being one of the most memorable periods of basketball seen in the town in years.

Fired up by the phenomenal home crowd, who turned the arena into a real cauldron for the visitors, Ipswich suddenly brought unbelievable intensity to the game, and frankly the visiting London team didn’t seem to know what to do.

The fightback began immediately, with Tom Sadler hitting a massive three pointer straight away. Ipswich were pressing hard on defence, pressuring London’s every move, and were making them turn the ball over, miss shots, and make silly mistakes.

Another three pointer by Sadler caused the gym to erupt, and the lead was suddenly down to just four points.

Guards Isaac Omirin, Josh Johnson and Luke Mascall-Wright were driving to the basket as if their lives depended on it, and London began to look like a punch-drunk boxer, staggering and hanging on to the game by their fingertips.

With three minutes remaining the onslaught continued, and Ipswich tied the game at 75-75, to the absolute delight of the crowd, before taking a 79-76 lead.

London must have wondered where this new Ipswich team had come from.

A massive dunk from Greenan followed, giving Ipswich a slender 84-81 lead with seconds remaining.

But this remarkable game was not over yet though. As the clock wound down, the visitors hit a huge three pointer on the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

Undaunted, Ipswich put together a 7-0 run straight away in the additional period and didn’t look back.

Johnson in particular seemed to have the visitors terrified, as they didn’t seem to know what to do with his constant attack of the basket.

Ipswich completely controlled the clock, and wound up winning the game of the season so far by a 10 point margin, 99-89, to the delight of the home crowd, who gave their team a rousing, standing ovation at the end of play.