Fangs Edge Tentacles 120-119

Pennsylvania Fangs 120, Miami Tentacles 119. One point, no overtime, and a box score full of near-misses. The Fangs held on by converting 10 consecutive free throws, getting 26 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 4-of-7 from three from their top guard, who finished with a game-score of 22.6 and did not turn the ball over once in 23 minutes.

The turning point was Pennsylvania's ability to stay out of trouble late. Miami's Rango finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists on 7-of-12 shooting and was a physical force for 33 minutes, but his plus-minus of plus-1 tells the story: the Tentacles were close all night and never quite got over. Desmond Ellis gave the Fangs a scare, posting minus-12 on the night despite going 7-of-11 from the field with 3 blocks, a split that hints at stretches where Miami turned Pennsylvania's own frontcourt against them.

Bucktooth Ruth held the Fangs together during those difficult stretches, logging 37-plus minutes and posting 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ruth shot 5-of-13 from the field, got to the line seven times, and made six of them. It was not a clean performance, but it was a load-bearing one, the kind of stat line a team needs when the margin shrinks to single digits and no one wants to blink.

Miami's secondary contributors gave the Fangs real trouble. 9ine6ix Pirate went 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from three in 24 minutes, adding a steal and no turnovers, an almost perfect efficiency night off the bench. The Tentacles also got 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from their fourth-listed baller, who was plus-11 and hit two threes. Miami simply did not have enough of those contributors at the right moment.

Pennsylvania's winning formula came down to the stripe. The Fangs converted 10 consecutive free throws in the decisive stretch and did not crack under pressure. Miami will point to Rango's near-double-double and wonder how a game that competitive slipped away. The Fangs will not care. One point counts the same as twenty.