With broken bottles littering the floor, the referees abandoned the game and Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust held a 74-72 lead over North Ruimveldt.

The rain of bottles and other stuff continued even as the over-capacity crowd made its way out of the arena, overshadowing a truly spectacular encounter that generated excitement from the first to the last whistle.

Organiser Robert Cadogan told Chronicle Sport that the remaining 2.4 seconds would be completed before the start of Game 2 in the finals on Saturday.

“But first of all we have to secure the use of the hall, in light of what happened. And we may have to look at bringing in referees from Trinidad & Tobago because it seems that the refereeing did not please fans,” Cadogan said.

But the stage for chaos was set early when the massive crowd broke down a gate at the entrance and a swarm of people invaded the stands, which were already full to near capacity.

Several other persons even scaled the eastern and western walls, passing through the little space between the wall and the roof, to gain entry.

A security guard showed Chronicle Sport a ticket booth at the eastern side of the building, which some persons broke into, to gain entry into the hall, but found themselves at a dead end instead.

“The numbers (security personnel) were too few to deal with such a big crowd,” the security guard said.

Thus as the bottles were thrown from the stand onto the court, the security guards stood helpless at the edges of the court. Table officials and some media members took cover behind the low wall separating the stands from the court area.

However, after fans left the venue, Cadogan and advisers discussed security measures for Game 2 on Saturday, if permission is granted for use of the sport facility.

Brilliant performances from former Caribbean All-Stars guard and National captain, Lugard Mohan and Aubrey Young, along with Andrew Ifill, produced a formidable unit for North Ruimveldt, despite having just two reserves on the bench.

Nayland Loncke continued to be the pivot of Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust thrust, while coach Dennis Clarke used his star-studded bench well, interspersed with good time-out calls.

North Ruimveldt registered the first points, with Randel Murphy sinking them from the free throw line. But Loncke announced his presence with a three-pointer, eventually tying the score at 8-8 then Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust took over the lead.

Mohan regained the lead with a three-pointer, Loncke replied with one and Young hit another for North Ruimveldt to lead 14-13, all three shots from beyond the arc coming consecutively, all to thunderous applause of shrieking fans.

Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust wrested back the lead, however, holding it to 21-20 then Mohan was fouled aiming for a three-pointer. He sank the three free throws to tie the score then gave his team the lead. They ended the quarter ahead, 25-23.

North Ruimveldt maintained control of the game, leading by nine at one point 37-28, with Ifill decorating the quarter with a super dunk to finish a long pass and Young sinking from downtown. But Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust began slowly coming back, reaching within one point at 43-44, but Mohan ended the quarter with two accurate shots from the free-throw line. That should have been three shots because he was going for a three-pointer clearly outside the arc, but the referee ruled two shots, perhaps signalling the whistle was going against North Ruimveldt because the action repeated itself in a later quarter. They led 46-43.

Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust started the third scoring, taking the lead at 49-48 up to 53-51. But Young regained it for North Ruimveldt with a three-pointer.

However the team only hit two more baskets, one of which was a Mohan three-pointer just before the end, while the other side sank six, four from the line, and led 61-59.

At the start of the final quarter, Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust hit three quick baskets to extend the lead 67-59.

North Ruimveldt took a time-out, and from 7:49 minutes to 2:34 minutes on the clock, they came back to within two points at 67-69, hitting six baskets, including four from the line, and a dunk by Ifill. Then Young came off the court.

But Ifill seemed to be the target of the referee’s whistle, getting some unconvincingly fouls blown against him. On one occasion, he was blown for pushing and no one was within arm’s length of him. He was eventually fouled out.

Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust took a time out with 4:20 minutes left and raced to 74-67. Darcel Harris brought back North Ruimveldt with one from beyond the arc, and they added two more from a lay-up to move two points away.

North Ruimveldt gained possession with 37 seconds left and surprisingly, Harris drove for a lay-up instead of a three-point play that Mohan was clearly setting up for. He was fouled.

The first bottle hit the court and the game halted with 15 seconds remaining. Play resumed and the indiscriminate salvos began with 2.4 seconds left in the game.