Myvette confirms shot was good

For his part, Dwight Myvette, the man who made the dramatic shot, had absolutely no doubt that his short jumper left his hands well before time had expired.

Dwight Myvette, Guard, Belize Nat’l Team

“Number thirteen for Barbados was fouled. The coach called me to the bench, he was shooting two free throws. The coach told me to get the ball, for everybody to get the ball to me and just clear out and let me take the ball the length of the court. So the guy had already shot the first free throw, so I went to the three-point line approximately and he shot the second free throw. It came straight off the rim directly into Shabba’s hands. Shabba passed the ball to me… Before he had the free throw, I looked at the clock and said to myself “okay, I got 6.7 seconds, that’s plenty of time to weave through the crowd and get to at least the three point line or the free throw line and get the shot off.” So the ball was rebounded by Shabba, he passed the ball to me. I took off with the ball, made like a small “C”, I weaved around, just a small “C”. I got to the free throw line, I know I had at least one or two seconds left and I launched the ball off and the ball was good. I immediately looked at the referee and he counted it.”

A careful analysis of the videotape by News Five clearly shows that the shot got off prior to the six point two seconds left on the clock. At today’s press conference the members of the Belize team unanimously agreed that the final buzzer, which was barely audible through the crowd noise, did not sound until well after the ball left Myvette’s hand. Tillett called the action of the Barbadian officials a deliberate and calculated effort to unfairly change the outcome of the game. The BNBA is in the process of protesting the action to all relevant regional and international basketball associations in the hope that the Barbadian organizing body will be sanctioned. James Adderly will have more on this story later in the newscast.