Season 44 Featured Game No. 5...Charleston at Philadelphia

Charleston 66, Philadelphia 64
AMAZING MOUNTAINEERS STUN PHILADELPHIA
Philadelphia -- Guard Cat Timol of the upstart Charleston Mountaineers hit two free throws after the final buzzer sounded to give his still-undefeated team a staggering 66-64 victory in a thrill-packed road win.

Charleston is now 5-0 going into the All Star Game break, while the seemingly invincible Philadelphia Phobia have dropped two in a row for a 3-2 record.

The plucky Mountaineers, picked by nobody to even earn a playoff berth, won this tight contest despite losing their top scorer, rookie Frog Morton, to injury in the second quarter. Charleston was ahead 24-22 at the time. The injury will play havoc with Morton's 18.5 scoring average and may keep him from the All Star Game team, but he will not miss a regular season contest. It was a one-game injury, which the All Star Game takes care of.

Charleston never missed a beat in Morton's absence, leading 38-30 at the half. But in the third quarter, the Phobia asserted its defensive will and took a 3-point lead into the final stanza.

Here's how the last part of the game went (6 lead changes, 2 tied in last 30 time units):

-- 55-54 Charl. as J.J. Gargantuan hit 1 of 2 free throws...30 left
-- 56-55 Phil. as Poodle "Stix" Jackson tips in a missed trey by Colquitt Croix
-- 57-56 Charl. as Shwayze scores down low on a feed by Cat Timol
-- 58-57 Phil. as Croix hits a medium jumper on an out of bounds play
-- 59-58 Charl. Shwayze hits a short jumper on a pass from Red Reparee
-- Sloppy Dollop misses a short jumper and Jackson misses the tip-in for Philly, Shwayze rebounds for Charleston...18 left
-- Gargantuan of Charleston called for a charge on Carga Larga.
-- 60-59 Phil. as Jackson hits a short jumper on a pass from Dollop...14 left
-- 62-60 Charl. as forward Flip Testerton hits a humongous trey, his third of the game in as many tries...13 left
-- 62-62 Tie as Dollop connects on a medium jumper on a pass from Croix...11 left
-- Jackson fouls for Philly
-- Zagobia fouls Timol
-- 64-62 Charl. Timol makes both ends of a 1 on 1...9 left
-- 64-64 Tie as Dollop scores down low on a pass from Larga for Philly...7 left
-- Timol's good medium jumper for Charleston is force-missed by Zagobia, who then grabs the rebound. Philly ball with 4 left.
-- Dollop misses a short jumper for Philly and Gargantuan grabs the board for Charleston with 2 left.
-- Croix ties up Reparee for a jump ball with 1 time unit remaining and the score tied 64-64.
-- Reparee wins the jump for Charleston, Timol takes a wayward trey that is off, but Zagobia fouls him with no time remaining. Two free throws.
-- 66-64 Charl. Needing just one free throw to win, Timol hits them both and Charleston has its upset road win.

PLAYER OF GAME
Having the best season of his five-year career, small forward FLIP TESTERTON of Charleston was again outstanding for the victors in this triumph. The 6-5 jumping jack led all scorers with 21 points, pulled down 6 rebounds, had 1 assist and 1 blocked shot. His opposite, Wawa Wewa, could not keep up with Testerton. Wewa was thoroughly out-played, scoring just 5 points and fouling out on the first time unit of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Testerton, in his first year with Charleston, was 8 for 9 from the floor, including 3-for-3 from deep, three slam dunks and 2 for 3 from the foul line. He's about to make the first All Star team of his career.

Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- Charleston two-guard Cat Timol, pulled from the cut pile this season, has been steady and important in the Mountaineers' 5-0 run. In this game the 5-10 Timol dominated the 6-4 Akbar Zagobia who was guarding him, shutting out Zagobia and fouling him out on the final play of the game. Timol scored 16 points, had 3 rebounds and blocked a game-high 3 shots. He was 6-for-6 from the foul line, including 4 big ones down the stretch that included the game winners.

-- Soon-to-be Hall of Fame center J.J. Gargantuan dominated Carga Larga in the post, scoring 15 points and ripping down a game-high 9 rebounds while blocking 1 shot.

-- Philly point guard Colquitt Croix poured in 18 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, had a team-high 3 assists and tied for game-high in steals with 2 while giving Red Reparee a working over defensively.

-- After Frog Morton was injured and out of the game, Philly power forward Sloppy Dollop went after his weaker defensive replacement, Shwayze. The fifth-year forward scored a team-high 19 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, dished 2 assists, blocked a team-high 2 shots and tied for game-high in steals with 2.

NEXT UP: Dallas (3-1) looks to take over second place from Philadelphia as it travels to Milwaukee (1-3), a team it just got done crushing 109-77.