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 Acie Earl made an impressive NBL debut with 25 points.

Tigers Survive Another Close Finish

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 1998 at 8:41 PM ET

The Melbourne Tigers have survived yet another thriller and came through with their underfeated record in tact. This time it was a 102-97 win against the new look Sydney Kings at Melbourne Park. Playing without Mark Bradtke, the Tigers were up against it with the Kings welcoming new Centre Acie Earl into the lineup. Earl although out of shape showed he can score and his height (6'11) gave him a big advantage inside against Blair Smith. But defensively Earl had a hard time stopping Smith, the Tigers centre scoring 6 in the first quarter. But the Kings owned the Tigers in that first term, hitting a perfect 5-5 from outside to lead 36-29 at the first change. Aaron Trahair was outstanding with 11, but he was matched by Andrew Gaze who also had 11. The second quarter saw Acie Earl continue to punish the Tigers inside, but Marcus Timmons kept the home team rolling with a series of jumper's from the free throw line. The Kings managed to extend their lead further towards the end of the second quarter and lead 58-47 at half time.

The third quarter was very similar as the first and second, Acie Earl and Aaron Trahair getting it done for Sydney and Andrew Gaze and Marcus Timmons big for the Tigers. The Tigers made a little ground up in the third, but the Kings kept their poise and didn't give in to the Tigers increased pressure. Lanard Copeland started to find his form in the third but still only had 11 going into the fourth quarter. The final quarter started in a very ugly fashion, the Kings scoring 2 early points but then going dry. The Tigers went on a 12-2 run and were leading with 8:00 to go and looked the goods going down the stretch. But they quickly snapped out of their funk and thanks to Matt Nielson and Scott Mcgregor they stayed within a few points for the rest of the quarter. Gaze and Copeland couldn't be stopped however and when Gaze made 2 straight buckets to give the Tigers a 96-94 lead with less than a minute remaining. But Scott Mcgregor calmly knocked down a trey on the next possesion to give the Kings the lead. Andrew Gaze then made a tough lay up and with 35 seconds left the Kings called time out trailing by 1. They went down low to Acie Earl who had 1 on 1 coverage with just Blair Snith to beat. But he travelled and Andrew Gaze was fouled. Gaze made both and traling by 3 Aaron Trahair had a chance to tie the game away, his trey rimmed out and a lay up on the buzzer from Lanard Copeland made it a 102-97 final score. Andrew Gaze lead all scorers with 36, Timmons had 21 and Copeland also had 21. Acie Earl made an impressive debut with 25 points while Aaron Trahair put up 24 of his own.

H   I   G   H   L   I   G   H   T   S

Video:  Andrew Gaze comes down court and throws it upstair for Lanard Copeland who throws it down.
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Video:  Andrew Gaze beats three Kings and throws up a tough shot with one hand while falling to the ground.
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