Railways remain undefeated in Albany Basketball Association men’s A-grade competition after thrilling finish

A thrilling comeback from Railways Tigers in round three of the Albany Basketball Association men’s A-grade competition against Tigers helped them remain unbeaten on Tuesday night. As a result, Railways moved a game clear on top of the A-grade standings. After trailing by eight points at half-time Railways got the margin back to two points inside the first 10 minutes of the last half. Tigers responded to stretch the margin back out to six, but Railways came again and took the lead for the first time in the game with six minutes to play after a brilliant alley-oop play between Angus Brampton and Henrick Alforque off an inbound on the baseline. Scores were level with four minutes remaining before Kyle Smith hit one free throw to give Railways the lead back. With a minute left, Smith missed a lay-up and Tim Button secured the rebound but Railways got the ball back after Tigers threw away possession. With five seconds left Railways’ Henry Alforque had the ball stolen at half court by Zac Pearson and with no one between him and the goals, Tigers were headed for a remarkable victory. But Henry Alforque came up behind Pearson and slapped the ball out of his hands as he went up for the lay-up on the final siren, Railways winning an epic 34-33. Henrick Alforque finished with 11 points for Railways and teammate Brampton added nine while Mason Tion top scored for Tigers with 10. Barking Owls notched their second straight victory of the season with a tense one-point win over Infernos. Luke McGuire top scored with 20 points, including four triples, in the 55-54 win while Brandon O’Byrne led Infernos with 14. New club Sonics recorded their first win of the competition with a 45-39 victory over Ambassadors. After leading by 12 at half-time, Sonics hung on in second last half with Kye Griffiths (13 points) influential at both ends. The Sharks bounced back from their round-two defeat with a hard-fought 49-30 win over Raiders. Red Rogers dropped 17 points in the win and Callum Bolsher added 12.