As they did in last week's victory over St. Barnabas, the coaches made some half time adjustments, which began to pay dividends for the Lions. They starting working the ball behind the 3 2 defense that was deployed by St. Gabe's, and it manufactured results. Besides chipping away at the huge St. Gabe's lead, the aggressive offense got the St. Gabe's center into foul trouble. Near the end of the 3rd period he drew his fourth foul and the St. Gabe coach sat him on the bench to preserve him for the 4th period. The 3rd session ended with the Lions having cut the big lead in half, trailing by 6.

     Amazingly, the final period of this game was a mirror image of last week's. The Lions started the last frame by deploying their deadly full court press. As it did last week, the press again yielded steals, and this time forced St. Gabe's into mistakes. The Lions scored, while shutting down their opponents, and with four minutes left, the Lions finally tied the game .They grabbed their 1st lead since early in the opening stanza, when another steal was converted into a basket with 3 1/2 minutes to go. With just under three minutes in regulation play, another steal resulted in a Lions' basket and we were in the driver's seat up by 4. The victory appeared sealed when the St. Gabe center committed his 5th foul and was forced to the bench. The Lions were up by 4, their height disadvantage was neutralized by that 5th foul, and they had the momentum going there way. Yet, St. Gabe wasn't done. They brought the ball up court, drove the lane and scored to pull within two. With one minute left, St. Gabe's stole the ball and drove the lane. The shot went up, the whistle blew, and the ball went in. The St. Gabe scorer had tied the game and stepped to the Free-Throw line with a chance for St. Gabe's to recapture the lead with under a minute to go in regulation. The shot went up, but bounded off the rim and the Lions grabbed the rebound. The Lions rushed the ball up court, but the ball was stolen, and St. Gabe' got off the potential go-ahead shot with 30 seconds remaining. The shot missed, the Lions rebounded, and again rushed the ball up court. With under 20 seconds left, a Lion guard drove the middle then kicked the ball outside to a wide open forward. From the right side, directly in front of the Lions' bench, the gutsy Lion hoisted up a long 18 footer from just inside the 3 point arc. The ball miraculously hit nothing but the bottom of the net, and the Lion bench erupted in celebration. In a last ditch effort to tie the game, St. Gabe's flew up court and passed the ball to the right base line. The St. Gabe forward did not handle the pass cleanly, and took steps trying to control the ball. With two seconds left, the Lions in-bounded the ball and the buzzer sounded. The Lions had pulled off their 2nd consecutive unbelievable, come from behind two point playoff victory. The Lions advance to next Sunday's 3:45 P.M. Championship Game at Mt. Carmel.