Portsmouth F.C. (basketball)

[6] A burst pipe which delayed work on the Mountbatten Centre's main sports hall floor meant Portsmouth were back at Fleming Park on 26 January, this time for a 'home' clash with league leaders Kingston Kings.

Bill Davis completed his fixture-fixing task on 12 February, giving Portsmouth four different venues for their first four home games by arranging for the Manchester United match to take place at Winchester Recreation Centre.

[16] John Deacon, who joined the team on the bench for the home game with Sunderland Maestros, acknowledged that most of them would not be around the following season due to the club's higher ambitions but was delighted with their attitude and performances in their short time wearing Portsmouth vests.

Soon to follow were Alan Cunningham, from Worthing, Colin Irish, from Manchester United, Larry Dassie, Trevor Anderson, Kalpatrick Wells, Andrew Bailey, Eddie Fontaine and Michael Hayles.

[20][21] The new Portsmouth line-up, with an all-blue first choice strip and all-white change colours, played on a green and terracotta roll-out carpet court at the Mountbatten Centre during 1985–86.

[22] The unbeaten run ended in the National Cup semi-finals, which were both held at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham in a 'final four' day[21] on 15 December covered by Channel 4.

After following up their first round win over Crystal Palace with a victory away to second-tier side Tower Hamlets and a quarter-final success at Tyneside,[23] they faced another tussle with Kingston.

This meant an enforced absence for Alan Cunningham, as only two overseas players could be selected for any game, and the revised Portsmouth line-up suffered a 75–92 defeat which denied them a trip to the Royal Albert Hall in London for the final.

[21][24] In the next game, three days before Christmas, mid-table Hemel & Watford Royals inflicted their first league defeat with a shock 82–79 win at the Mountbatten Centre, despite Kalpatrick Wells hitting 20 for the hosts.

Portsmouth played sixth placed Birmingham Bullets in the National Championship – commonly known as the playoffs – quarter-finals, and having opened with a 92–86 away win they had two chances at home to secure the best-of-three series and a trip to Wembley Arena for the 'final four' weekend on 21 and 22 March.

Their 121–81 home win over second-tier side Lambeth Topcats, with 24 points from Alan Cunningham, was followed by a comfortable 127–99 success at Hemel & Watford which took them to another Channel 4 semi-final day at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre on 30 November.

Karl Tatham's lay-up in the last few seconds saw Portsmouth squeeze past Calderdale Explorers 82–78[31] to set up a final against holders Kingston at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 December.

Colin Irish was forced to miss the game with a knee injury, and in his absence Danny Williams led Portsmouth's first half scoring with 11 points as Kingston took a 51–41 advantage into the interval in front of a crowd of 4,200.

For the fifth and final year in a row Channel 4 showed the second half live, and Alan Cunningham got their coverage off to a flying start with a dunk straight from the tip-off.

Kenny Scott's jumper from the corner then stretched Kingston's lead to 11 points, and although Mike Spaid, Cunningham, Tatham, Moore and Williams kept the scoreboard ticking over for Portsmouth, they could not get back to within one basket of their opponents.

Again Portsmouth held a four-point lead at the buzzer, but Kingston got the upper hand in a second period of overtime, eventually winning the game 135–133 and the tie by six points.

Coming in were Americans Marc Glass and Kenny Stancell, soon to be replaced by Rich Strong, local star Jason Colgan, Roy Lewis and Russell Taylor.

Portsmouth played five games in five days in France[34][35] to prepare for the new season, clocking up 1,400 miles of travelling as they pitted their talents against French top division clubs.

They started their title defence with a 102–88[34] win at Solent on 19 September 1987, but a week later Manchester United pinched a 70–69 victory at the Mountbatten Centre to leave the champions playing catch-up again.

Paul Stimpson then gave Kingston a 73–75 lead before Alan Cunningham took over, sinking four consecutive free-throws then stealing the ball and racing away for a lay-up to put Portsmouth 79–75 clear with 2 minutes 39 seconds remaining.

Colin McNish made one from the line and Dan Davis laid up to bring Kingston back to 79–78, then Rich Strong sank a pair of free-throws to edge Portsmouth clear again at 81–78.

With a minute remaining former Portsmouth star Joel Moore, who had received a frosty reception from the home fans on his return, tied the scores at 81 with a three-pointer from the top of the key.

A desperate shot from Moore was blocked and Portsmouth broke clear, drew another foul and sank one final free-throw to win 84–81 and prompt joyous scenes among the home support.

Portsmouth reached the National Cup final again with home wins over Bracknell Tigers (85–82), Sunderland 76ers (98–88)[39] and, in a non-neutral semi-final, Manchester United (107–90), with Colin Irish scoring 27 points.

[39] But a chipped bone in his right hand threatened Irish's participation in the final for the second year running, and reliable bench man Mike Spaid had only returned to training after an ankle injury just five days before the Royal Albert Hall encounter with Kingston on 14 December.

But Moore then hit his seventh three-pointer, Strong missed a pair of free-throws and Clark sank two from the line, effectively ending the contest at 85–77 before Kingston ran out 90–84 winners.

[42] Marc Glass hit a three-pointer from the halfway line at the end of the first half of the final against Livingston at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre on 30 March, but that proved Portsmouth's high point of the evening as the Scottish side took the trophy with a 96–91[33][42][43] win.

Home and away wins over eighth placed Solent in the playoff quarter-finals[34][43] took Portsmouth back to Wembley Arena for the 'final four' weekend on 9 and 10 April, and this time they won their semi – beating Manchester United 98–90[43] – to ensure they achieved the hat-trick of major final appearances that season.

[33][37][43] Shortly after the season concluded John Deacon announced his intention to move his franchise to the newly built Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading, then in May 1988 he sold Portsmouth Football Club.

Solent lost 117–127 in double overtime but Cunningham played superbly, scoring 29 points, and in a fitting end to his career he had the ball in his hands as the final buzzer sounded.