Six seconds on the clock, down by one point, and the ball in the hands of point guard Alonzo Verge. The Coruña native probed for a play above the rim, saw it wasn't there, drove into the defender and drew the foul. He made both free throws and Leyma took home a game it had dominated but nearly let slip away. 86-85 against Manresa.
A devastating start and an immediate collapse
Carles Marco rested two of his best players from the start, Verge and George Conditt, both dealing with injuries. And yet the team came out firing: 21-9 after a good play by Dmytro Skapintsev, against a Manresa unable to find the basket.
The problem came right after. Between free throws, Catalan makes, and an avoidable turnover by Tomas Dimsa, the Bages side put together a 2-11 run that left the first quarter at 23-20.
The second quarter was back-and-forth. Two plays by Conditt stretched the lead to 27-20 and the Puerto Rican became the main scoring source alongside an inconsistent Verge. Manresa cut it back to 42-38 before halftime arrived at 44-38. Leyma dominated the boards and also had Karlis Silins, recently back from injury, recording a couple of blocks.
Agbo's third quarter
The second half started again with an orange run to 58-49. It looked like the game was breaking open. Then Chibuzo Agbo appeared.
The Manresa wing scored 17 points in that quarter alone, including three consecutive three-pointers that knocked the home team off balance and flipped the scoreboard. The third quarter closed at 64-67.
Hanging on without shooting
The Catalans got to 64-71 and threatened to run away. Leyma, with Verge and Paul Jorgensen misfiring and shooting poorly, crept back more through effort than accuracy until they reclaimed the lead at 76-75.
From there, a back-and-forth battle with an equally erratic Manresa. Skapintsev grew in the paint, Conditt put his shoulder to the wheel, and the game came down to the final possession. It went their way.