before the Royal Albert Hall encounter with Kingston on 14 December. A sell-out crowd of 6,000 and the Channel 4 cameras saw Portsmouth start with a line-up of Marc Glass, Steve Nelson, Alan Cunningham, Karl Tatham and Rich Strong against a Kingston starting five of Dan Davis, Steve Bontrager, Colin McNish, Joel Moore and Martin Clark. The opening ten minutes of the first half passed with the scores tied at 18, but a lay-up and free-throw from Clark and a three-pointer by Bontrager suddenly opened a 26–18 lead for Kingston. Strong's lay-up brought it back to 26–20 before Irish entered the game with a strapped hand 7 minutes 10 seconds from half-time. Spaid carried the scoring load for Portsmouth, netting their next six points with a tip-in, lay-up and jump shot, before Cunningham hit another jumper to keep them in touch at 33–28. Clark then sank two free-throws and Moore a three-pointer to pull Kingston clear again at 38–28 with 2 minutes 48 seconds remaining in the half. Cunningham dunked off a Tatham drive to make it 38–30, then Scott and Tatham exchanged jump shots before Irish went off without scoring as Portsmouth trailed 40–32. Spaid hit two free-throws before Davis dunked off a Scott pass to bring the curtain down on the first half with Kingston leading 42–34. A fast start to the second half saw Kingston leading 64–52 with just over 13 minutes left. Tatham hit a three-pointer but Moore went straight up the other end to hit another, his fifth from five attempts. Spaid, Mike Griffiths, Cunningham, Bontrager, Strong, Moore and Tatham all contributed to an exchange of baskets before Moore sank his sixth successive three-pointer and forced Portsmouth coach Dan Lloyd to call a time-out with his team trailing 76–63. When play resumed Clark extended Kingston's lead to 15 points with a pair of free-throws, but a Cunningham put-back from a rebound sparked a Portsmouth revival. Irish, who earlier in the match was so hampered by his injury that he resorted to taking and missing a one-handed free-throw with his left hand, drove through the lane to make it 78–67 and suddenly it was Kingston coach Kevin Cadle calling a time-out with 7 minutes 7 seconds left. Tatham's jump shot and a Roy Lewis lay-up hauled Portsmouth back to 78–71, then Cunningham took over with a reverse dunk off a drive, two free-throws and a bank