A three-pointer on the buzzer sunk the title aspirations of the Maitland Mustangs in the Men’s Youth League division two grand final at Maitland Federation Centre.
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The heartbreaking loss by the narrowest of margins was delivered by minor premiers Penrith with less than a second on the clock yesterday.
Penrith slotted the championship-winning shot from the corner of the show court and left the Mustangs’ home crowd stunned with the scoreboard reading 57-56 in favour of the Panthers.
Moments earlier in the decider the hosts had gone ahead by two points with a successful free-throw attempt, but the Panthers called a time-out almost immediately after with 0.7 seconds left on the clock.
Play was then restarted in the Mustangs half and a quick pass from the visitors was followed by a successful shot.
Ben Wagenfeller was top scorer for the match with 17 points for Penrith, while Sam Winter (14), Mustangs skipper Jack Edwards (12) and Sam Huggins (11) all made double figures for Maitland.
Huggins, who also plays with the Mustangs’ senior men’s side, collected 17 rebounds and blocked seven shots to be named defensive player of the match.
Edwards was named defensive player of the league at the post-match presentation.
The Mustangs qualified for the grand final after defeating the Sydney Uni Spiders 74-63 in the semi-final on Saturday.
This was part of two days of Basketball NSW play-offs action at Maitland Federation Centre.
In the men’s Waratah Championship League final yesterday Norths Bears beat Sydney Comets 100-85 while in the women’s grand final Hornsby Spiders comfortably accounted for Hills Hornets 94-63.
In the men’s state league showdown Hills Hornets defeated Lithgow Lazers in a thriller 75-74, while the Newcastle Hunters went down in the women’s division 86-82 to the Coffs Harbour Suns after double overtime.
And in division one of the men’s and women’s youth leagues Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and Hills Hornets clinched the titles with grand final victories over Norths Bears (92-76) and Sutherland Sharks (88-69).
It was the second time in two seasons that Maitland Basketball Association has hosted the state finals and the fourth time since 2010 the event has been housed in the Hunter.
