SOMERVILLE, N.J. — The "clown prince" of the Harlem Globetrotters testified Monday that he begged God to save the soul of the chauffeur gunned down by Jayson Williams.

Gulping and staring down at the witness stand, Howard Paul Gaffney told jurors in the former NBA star's manslaughter trial that "something divine" told him to kneel at the driver's side and pray that "he could accept Jesus and go to heaven."

"I was trying to intercede for him because ... he couldn't talk," said the 6-foot, 6-inch athlete who goes by the stage name "Showtime."

Neither Gaffney, nor his teammate Curley "Boo" Johnson, 38, who followed him to the stand, witness the shooting of Costas "Gus" Christofi, but their accounts of the aftermath were the most emotionally wrenching of the six-week trial.

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Their testimonies were laced with heartbreaking details about Christofi's final moments that have been absent from the testimony of a half dozen other men who were also guests in Williams' home.

Fighting back tears, Johnson recalled rushing to Christofi's side seconds after a blast from Williams' shotgun struck him in the upper abdomen.

"I called out, 'Gus! Gus!' He didn't respond ... I remember the wrinkles of his eyes clenched shut. He was gasping for air ... His shirt started to saturate in red blood," Johnson said.

As the men described Christofi's death, his sister, Andrea Adams, sat in the front row of the courtroom, tears streaming down her face. Williams, wearing a jeweled cross on his suit lapel, looked grim. If convicted of aggravated manslaughter and seven other charges, Williams faces 55 years in prison.

Prosecutors contend he was acting reckless when he toyed with a gun Feb. 14, 2002, while giving guests a post-game tour of his 40-room mansion. The one-time New Jersey Net insists the gun malfunctioned just as Christofi entered Williams' master bedroom.

Although previous witnesses have testified that the gun went off after Williams snapped it shut at his waist, neither Gaffney nor Johnson saw the moment the 12-gauge double-barrel weapon fired.

Gaffney, 36, was walking toward a closet in the rear of the master bedroom and had his back turned to Williams. Johnson had decided not to enter the room after he saw his host remove the shotgun from a cabinet.

"I don't like guns," he told jurors. Instead, he stayed in an adjoining office, staring at a bobble-head doll made in Williams' image, he testified.

Johnson said moments later he heard Williams say, "Let me show you," and then the sound of a shot rang out.

"I knew exactly what it was when I heard the blast," he said.

Gaffney said he first thought Williams, a notorious jokester, was playing a prank, but he then saw Williams diving headfirst toward Christofi and yelling, "Are you okay? Are you okay? Please say you are okay ... I f---ed up my life."

Gaffney said he took Christofi's pulse and it was barely detectable. Johnson said he saw the muscles in the man's face suddenly relax and he knew he was dead.

"I just said, 'Hell no,' and I ran out of there pretty fast," Johnson said.

He dashed out the front door and eventually took refuge in Williams' new, white Bentley, he said. Johnson testified that he called his coach and "father figure" Tex Harrison and some teammates.

Gaffney said he first went to comfort Johnson in the car, but then felt compelled to return and offer aid to Christofi. While he was praying by his side, he said, someone thrust a towel at him and told him to apply pressure to the injury.

"That's when I really got to see the wound and to see the hole in him and the bones and everything just bubbling out of it," Gaffney said. He said he couldn't put pressure on his abdomen because "my hand would've gone through his whole side."

Gaffney spoke haltingly as he described his actions. A devout Christian whose official Globetrotter biography lists his favorite book as The Bible, Gaffney's testimony was bolstered by the fact he did not consume any alcohol the night of the shooting. All but one other guest drank earlier in the evening when Williams took them to dinner.

Prosecutors allege Williams staged the death scene as a suicide and ordered his guests to tell police Christofi must have shot himself. Like the other guests to take the stand, Gaffney and Johnson acknowledged that they initially lied to police, saying they were downstairs when the driver, alone upstairs, died.

Both were granted immunity from prosecution on charges of making false statements to police before taking the stand.

The Globetrotters said that as they waited in the dining room while detectives assessed the death scene, Williams reminded them to stick to the story.

"Don't y'all worry about nothing. My lawyer will be here in a minute," Williams said, according to Gaffney.

Johnson said Williams even kept up the deception when his own father arrived at the house, telling him, "I had nothing to do with it."

With neither witness able to describe Williams' behavior just before the shooting — the crux of the most serious charges against him — the defense tried to use what they did witness to undermine the testimony of two of the prosecution's most damning witnesses.

Former pro basketball players Benoit Benjamin and Kent Culuko said Williams was targeting Christofi for abuse and cursed at him just before the gun discharged. Benjamin, who was trying out for the Harlem Globetrotters at the time of the shooting, said Williams pulled the trigger.

Defense lawyers, who have implied Benjamin is a jealous liar, queried the men about Benjamin's testimony that he played "a couple" games for the Globetrotters. Both Gaffney and Johnson said he never suited up for the team.

Both said they did not hear any cursing before the shooting, and Johnson said that when he looked into bedroom he did not see Culuko or Benjamin standing where they claimed.

But under further questioning by prosecutor Katharine Errickson, Johnson said that he was so focused on the gun that he did not notice where anyone was standing, including Christofi.

During their testimony, the Globetrotters hinted at a basketball lifestyle quite different than the one enjoyed by Williams, who once commanded an $86 million salary from the New Jersey Nets.  

Gaffney, who lives with his wife and two children in Houston, has played with the team for 11 years. Johnson, a Chicago resident, is in his 18^th season. Neither man has played for the NBA.

Both admitted that they were grateful when Williams treated them to a fancy dinner of lobster and steaks, admitting that they were more accustomed to fast food during their long road trips.

They seemed astonished by Williams' every day indulgences. Gaffney said he was surprised when two of Williams' other guests indulged in "$100-$150" a shot of alcohol.

"I was shocked that a shot of liquor would cost that much money," he said.

When Williams jokingly pretended to drive his new Bentley in to the lake on his estate, Gaffney testified he told Williams that "if he'd give me this $250,000 car, I'd give him my $50,000 Navigator and he could drive it in the lake."

Jurors chuckled at his answer.

On hand for Gaffney's testimony was former NBA player Charles Oakley. He sat behind Williams in the courtroom gallery, but declined to comment as he left court.

Testimony is set to continue Tuesday morning.