Round 1, Game 3 in San Jose

Charleston 72, San Jose 71

In one of the greatest and wildest games in MBA history, the Charleston
Rebels defeated the defending league champion San Jose Fighting Amigos 72-71
to advance to the finals for the second consecutive year.
Talk about your madman games. After the closest first quarter in this
series, Charleston took commanding control in the second quarter, going on
an early run and leading by as many as 11 points before the Amigos reeled
them in to trail 34-29 at the half. The third quarter ended with San Jose up
56-55, setting up the wild and wooly fourth.
In the final quarter, the lead changed hands five different times as the
two worthy foes fought desperately to avoid elimination. It did not look
good for the visiting Rebels when All-League guard Benny Gumm, who was in
foul trouble all game, picked up foul No. 5 early on and left the game with
a paltry four points. Behind forwards Sagittal Occlusal and Ed Masterson,
San Jose broke free of the lead-changing pattern and gave their team a 69-65
lead as the game wound down.
Then Charleston lost power forward Soh Cah Toah to fouls, but they were not
dead yet. When Hall of Famer Jonny Cockaroo scored the second consecutive
Rebels bucket, the game was tied 69-69 with 12 time units remaining.
Moments later, one-time Rookie of the Year two guard Kippy Kinski (17
points) drained a medium jump shot to give the surging Charleston team a
71-69 lead.
Then, with four time units remaining, all hell broke loose.
Following a missed Charleston shot and subsequent battle for the rebound,
San Jose¹s Felipe Jazzman and Charleston¹s Jim Linzy began a free-for-all
fight that resulted in both players getting booted from the game and
technical free throws being awarded to both teams.
Hall of Famer Cockaroo hit his charity shot for the Rebels, but
soon-to-be Hall of Famer Occlusal missed his, leaving his team with a
three-point deficit and precious little time remaining.
The Fighting Amigos then won the jump ball, keeping hopes alive. Center
Zlatko Korkovic then immediately drained a medium jump shot to pull his team
within a point, but the defending champs could not get the ball back before
time ran out.
The Rebels will now face Eastern Division foe, the Houston Iguanas for
the Season 26 MBA title. The teams split their two-game regular-season
series, with Charleston¹s opening game win against Houston accounting for
the Iguana¹s only loss this year.
Houston has won three titles, the last coming in Season 12 while
Charleston, experiencing it¹s best two-year stretch in team history, goes
after it¹s first championship.

Game MVP--Ed Masterson, San Jose, 23 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Top Scorer--Ed Masterson, San Jose, 23 points
Top Charleston scorer--Hall of Famer Jonny Cockaroo 22 points
Top Rebounder--Soh Cah Toa, Charleston, 7
Tops in Assists--Felipe Jazzman, San Jose, 5 (in his last game ever)
Tops in Steals--Felipe Jazzman, San Jose, 2