The Roarers' second-to-last game of the regular season, their final home game—a loss.
What set off the shockwave wasn't the game itself. It was the Western Conference standings, which the Roarers had just turned completely upside down.
All they'd had to do was win this one, and the seventh seed in the West would have been locked up. Instead, they were now tied with the Flameguardians in wins, edging them out on season-long point differential alone, holding seventh by a thread—the seeding wouldn't truly settle until the final game.
Worse still, the Tigers, sitting atop the conference, had just dropped a road game of their own, drawing level with the Paladins in the win column. The Tigers held first only on a 3–1 head-to-head edge—and couldn't lock down the top seed either.
By now, six of the West's ten spots were settled. The only ones still up in the air: first, second, seventh, and eighth.
