Lackland Air Force Base, Texas –
The final night of the Lackland intramural basketball regular season ended with two nail-biters Feb. 15 at the Chaparral Fitness Center, Lackland AFB, Texas.
The 737th Training Group raised their regular season record to 8-1, and they clinched the Division I (National League) regular season title with a 51-49 win over the 314th Military Intelligence Battalion.
A layup by Antonio Holmes with 37 seconds left in the game put TRG over the top. Holmes led TRG with 13 points, and Paul Lee scored 12.
TRG was up 28-21 at halftime. However, the Battalion nearly caught TRG during the second half, thanks much to the hustle for baskets by Terry Daniel and Angelo Baxter. Daniel led the Battalion with 13 points, and Baxter had 12.
The other photo finish saw the Air Force Information Operations Center barely overcome the 37th Communications Squadron 50-48.
A 3-point shot by Vicente Velazquez with 2.2 seconds left to play saved the game for AFIOC. While under heavy pressure from COMM defenders, Velazquez made the shot off his right hand near the right sideline after he caught a pass from Aaron Winkler (who also plays for the Lackland Warhawks Men's Varsity Basketball Team).
Before Winkler passed to Velazquez, he took the ball to mid-court, took a quick look at the clock and dribbled hard into the paint around a screen setup by teammate Sean Dooley.
Velazquez led AFIOC with 14 points, and Winkler totaled 13.
COMM ended the first half with a 29-23 lead on 3-balls by Rodrick Greene (also the Warhawks leading scorer) and John Grimley. A basket by Chris Hines with 26 seconds left to play almost gave COMM a win over AFIOC, last year's base champion.
Greene led COMM with 16 points, while Shay Bernard had 10.
AFIOC ended their regular season at 7-2 at second place behind TRG.
The playoffs for the base championship begin Feb. 21.