Basketball: Byrd shoots Guildford through

ALTON BYRD scored a basket and a free throw, three seconds from time, to take Guildford Kings into the final pool of the European Clubs Championship last night when they defeated Hapoel Galil Elyon 151-149 on aggregate in Israel, writes Duncan Hooper.

Guildford were holding an eight-point lead from last week's home leg of this second round tie, and were trailing the Israelis 71-62 last night and heading for elimination when Byrd, their veteran England and Great Britain international, took the responsibility of trying to take them through.

Byrd scored, despite being fouled in the process of shooting by a desperate Chen Lipin, then calmly scored the free throw to seal Guildford's place in one of the two eight-team pools in the semi-final round.

In a hostile atmosphere against the Israeli champions, Guildford's Karl Brown was a casualty, leaving the court temporarily to have a head wound taped after he was elbowed. He required stitches in the wound after the game.

Byrd was joint leading scorer on 16 points with his England and Great Britain colleague, Martin Henlan, sharing that total.