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Reveling in Mobile
Courageous comeback nets Revelers NBDL title. Who says championships fill seats?.

Fayetteville, N.C. 04.11.03 – Isaac Fontaine and the Mobile Revelers put a little fatherly advice to good use on the way to winning the National Basketball Development League Championship with a 75-72 victory over Fayetteville Friday at the Cumberland Crown Coliseum.

“My dad came from Sacramento, Calif., down to Mobile to see Game 2 on Wednesday, presumably to see us win a championship,” Fontaine said as the champagne flowed in the Revelers post-game locker room.

“He couldn’t make the trip here, but before he went back home he told me just one thing, ‘refuse to lose, just refuse to lose’, and that’s what we did.”

With Fontaine at the controls, the Revelers overcame a five-minute dry spell from the field in the third quarter and then erased a nine-point Fayetteville lead in the last 4:12 of the game to claim the victory. Fontaine scored a game-high 19 points, converting 7-of-11 from the field, including 2-for-2 from behind the three-point line.

“This is so sweet. In the pre-game I wrote on the board that you have to earn it to deserve it,” Mobile head coach Sam Vincent said. “We earned it tonight, so we deserve to be NBDL Champions.”

With neither team shooting the ball particularly well early on, Fayetteville took a narrow 32-31 lead into the half. Shea Seals kept Mobile close by coming off the bench to hit 4-of-4 field goal attempts and score 11 points before the break.

With Seals not in the game, the Patriots then went on a 12-5 run to start the third quarter and led 57-51 after three quarters. Fayetteville stretched the advantage to 70-61 with just over four minutes to play before Fontaine ignited an 11-1 Revelers run with a three-pointer with 3:42 left.

“We kept making adjustments and trying to get the right combination,” Vincent said. “We went to the big lineup at the end of the game and it gave us a spark. Still, you have to give credit to our guys because they just wouldn’t quit.”

Mobile took the lead for good at 72-71 on a baseline jumper by Cedric Henderson with 1:39 to play. Henderson and Fontaine hit one of two free throws apiece to put the Revelers ahead 74-71 with 14.8 seconds to play.

“I guess you could certainly say we started looking at the clock when they made their run. We stopped protecting the ball,” Fayetteville head coach Jeff Capel said. “Whenever you sit on a lead you are playing dangerously."

“I guess after a few days I’ll sit back and reflect on what a good season we had, but right now it’s hard to overcome the hurt of losing a game like this,” said Capel, who made a post-game trip to the Revelers’ locker room to congratulate the Mobile team and present Vincent and his assistant coach Dell Demps with a victory cigar.

Terrell McIntyre, who led Fayetteville scorers with 16 points, had a chance to tie the game after being fouled by Fontaine while attempting a three-pointer with 7.5 seconds to play. McIntyre hit just one of three to cut it to 74-72.

Fayetteville remained alive when Derek Hood converted just one of two free throws with 5.2 seconds to play, but Omar Cook’s three-point try at the buzzer was off the mark and Mobile danced onto the court to celebrate.

“We didn’t execute offensively of defensively down the stretch,” McIntyre said. “They executed and we didn’t.”

Fayetteville had 17 turnovers, including a combined 10 by Cook and McIntyre.

Mobile turned the ball over just 11 times in the game. The Revelers outrebounded the Patriots 35-32, while limiting Fayetteville to just 39-percent shooting from the floor.

Henderson and Seals had 17 points to follow Fontaine for Mobile, which shot 43-percent from the floor. Hood had eight points and eight rebounds.

Cook chipped in 11 points and Bryan Lucas 10 for Fayetteville. Jameel Watkins shared game-high rebounding honors with Hood by collecting eight for the Patriots.

The unspoken, and unwelcome guest at the party were the empty seats, which, even with the NBA backing suggest that the party may be over even with the championship in Mobile.