Southern Huskies have finally escaped their dreaded last-quarter doldrums at the third attempt in a dramatic 93-91 win over Nelson Giants at the Silverdome.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Things initially threatened to turn ugly when Anthony Stewart's men were down by as much as 10 points with less than two minutes left.
But after fadeouts against short-priced New Zealand NBL title favourites, Wellington Saints and Southland Sharks, the Huskies showed the grit to clinch victory with just 0.3 seconds on the clock.
"It was pleasing to get a good result," Stewart said.
"It wasn't one of our best.
"They grinded it out, at least; we could have thrown it away on that last play. They made a big play."
The Huskies turned things around quickly, bringing the margin back from 10 points to level heading to the final 30 seconds after star import Marcel Jones took control.
That only came after a full-court press almost created a turnover, but enough pressure for the hosts to get the ball back off a sharp rebound.
Jones was fouled in the transition and going to the line in the bonus, he dropped both free throws for the second time in a minute to tie.
Nelson tried to regain the lead, but Giant Jordair Jett missed twice and teammate Daniel Grida turned it over off his own rebound.
Captain Craig Moller's steal led to a lay-up and when his shot bounced off the rim, Jones was there to sink the winner among a swag of bodies under the basket.
The elation of it all carried over to the bench when momentarily Huskies players embraced Stewart.
The Giants' final pass from sideline landed in the hands of Rhys Vague, but the shot came up short on the buzzer.
Stewart felt the Huskies had nothing to lose this time in the final stretch.
"We tried to change it as much as we could defensively to take them out of what they were doing," he said.
"The important thing is to string some wins together to get that confidence. That's the hardest thing to do.
"That's the first and hopefully we can build on that when there is a minute or two to go, scores are tight, we sort of have that confidence that we're going to get it done.
"It's early in the season to be saying that, but it's a winnable game next week and then we're on the road against the bottom two."
Huskies gun Jalen Billups scored a game-high 24 points in the win, while Moller and Jones added 20 each.
Andrew Mathieson
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
