THE script dictated that this shot had to go in, and the 1800 screaming fans crammed into Newcastle Basketball Stadium last night willed it to drop.
For reasons known only to themselves, the sporting gods thought otherwise and there was no happy ending to Maitland's fairytale Waratah Australian Basketball League season.
In his last game before retiring "for good this time" and Maitland trailing Manly 63-60, veteran Mustangs and former Newcastle point guard Butch Hays had a chance to tie the WABL grand final but his three-point attempt with two seconds remaining rimmed out.
Manly playmaker Ben Arkell, who had made two free throws 10 seconds earlier to stretch his team's lead to three, knocked down two more with 0.7 seconds on the clock and the Sea Eagles won 65-60.
In their first WABL finals, the Mustangs had dedicated their season to Hays, whose 18-year-old son, Griffin, a Maitland junior representative, died in a rail accident at Tighes Hill on May 6.
"That's really good of them. My son Griffin played for the club for years and my daughter Roberta still plays - they're an awesome club," an emotional Hays told the Newcastle Herald after the game.
On his shot, Hays said: "I got a good look at it and I thought it was down . . . I couldn't have asked for a better look. It didn't go down but what a finish for these guys.
"We had a great year and we always believed, hopefully, that we could get here, and to get here was fantastic."
After a nervous start, Maitland trailed 32-11 with two minutes, 30 seconds left in the second quarter but stormed back with a 21-1 run to pull within one, 33-32, midway through the third.
Manly kicked away again on a 10-0 run then led 48-37 at the final break and looked to have the title in the bag leading 61-54 with 30 seconds to go, but Scott McGregor then Josh Clifford drained back-to-back triples to pull the Mustangs within one and set up the exciting finale.
After Arkell's pair of free throws, the ball landed in Hays's hands. He had missed on all seven of his previous shots and this one looked like nothing but net but it caught the rim and spun out.
"After the year he's had, it would have been no better feeling than for Butchy to make that three," McGregor said. "This roof would have blown off and I know we'd have gone on with it and won in overtime. It would have been unbelievable.
"The thing I love about Butch is if you're down, he'll get you up.
"For someone who's had the year that he's had, the boys got him through that and these guys are going to be his mates for life.
"Butch and his family had such a tragic loss and the boys got together and we tried to be there for him and pull him through and we finished one game short. We had a chance at the end and you want those chances and you want people like Butch Hays to shoot those shots.
"There's no doubt in my mind that if he shot another one, he would have made it."
Making up for being beaten grand finalists last year, Manly finished the season on a 15-game winning streak.
Their last loss was to the Mustangs, 79-73, in Maitland on May 15.
Apart from the 1800 spectators at Broadmeadow for the grand final, countless more were able to watch the drama unfold on the internet as Newcastle Basketball streamed games live all weekend through their association website.
? Playing in their eighth straight grand final and after three losses in those deciders, Bankstown Bruins upset minor premiers Canberra 74-67 to win the WABL women's title.
Bankstown's triumph was some consolation for Newcastle, because the Bruins knocked the Hunters out of the play-offs the previous week.
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