American guard Stephen Holt has been a man on a mission against his former NBL club Melbourne as Brisbane survived a last-second buzzer-beater shot to win 87-85 on the Gold Coast.
The 26-year-old from Portland had been struggling offensively for his new NBL club, only cracking double figures once in his previous four games.
But he came out aggressively against his old club at Carrara Stadium on Saturday night, dropping nine points in the opening quarter while hounding Melbourne's stud shooter Chris Goulding.
However, Goulding almost stole the game from the Bullets with a three-quarter-court shot on the buzzer, which hit the glass and rebounded off the rim.
Goulding said his shot "felt good" the moment it left his hand.
Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis pointed out after the tense win, his side was playing its fourth game in 11 days since travelling to the US.
"We've been doing a lot of good things in the last three or four games and haven't necessary got the rewards we deserve," he said.
"We've never spoken about it, we've never used it as an excuse but someone mentioned it to me today that we are 11 days back from being in Phoenix.
"We've had a lot of travel and time zone changes and played four games at three different venues in eight days and you just can't ignore the fatigue factor."
Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman accepted some of the blame for the upset loss following another poor third quarter and his players' inability to get to the foul line enough.
Melbourne blitzed Brisbane 41-29 on the boards, with import Josh Boone ripping down 14 rebounds, but the Bullets had a huge advantage from the charity stripe, making 16 of 21 free throws compared with seven of eight by their rivals.
"We still can't find a way to get to the foul line," Vickerman said.
"This was known as a three-point shooting team and when we recruited we wanted to make a change and find ways to get more free throws because the league is rewarding people who get in the paint and create contact."
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