Melbourne United import Stephen Holt decided to hand out the gifts on his 24th birthday, his seven late points securing an 89-86 over the Adelaide 36ers at Hisense Arena in Melbourne.
After watching dynamic Adelaide import Jerome Randle wither a 15-point deficit down to two late in the final term, Holt nailed a clutch three-pointer and an incredible left-handed scoop from near waist height to keep United atop the NBL ladder.
"It was a trick shot, a tough shot, I just wanted to be aggressive down the stretch to get my team what I needed and luckily it went in," Holt said.
"The guy was on my hip and I knew the big (defender) was going to try to come over and block it, so I just threw a little scoop shot underneath instead of shooting it normally, it was just an instinct play."
But just when it seemed Holt had iced the contest, Randle hit back-to-back long bombs to make the difference one point with 16.5 seconds remaining, capping a remarkable final term where he scored 15 of his 25 points.
Fittingly, it was Holt (14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) who held his nerve from the free-throw line, the near-capacity crowd of 9399 then holding their breath as game-tying attempts from Randle and Adam Gibson sailed wide.
"We just waited too long to fight harder, we could have fought harder in the first half," Randle said.
United were by far the better team across the opening 25 minutes, exposing Adelaide's tactic of switching defensive assignments by getting the ball inside to big men Majok Majok (15 points, 5 rebounds) and Daniel Kickert against smaller opponents.
Majok was dominant early, spinning, hooking and slamming his way to nine points in the opening term and 13 for the half.
Chris Goulding (19 points, 6 rebounds) joined in with seven points of his own to give the home team a 30-23 quarter-time advantage, but 36ers import Ebi Ere came to life with a series of drives and pull-up jump-shots to narrow the margin to two.
Goulding stepped up again with a strong drive and a triple to put Melbourne ahead 53-42 at the long break, and that lead was 15 shortly after half-time as Kickert took his turn at exploiting Adelaide's guards in the low post.
Ere again struck from long range, helping close the deficit to eight at three-quarter-time, before a remarkable twisting alley-oop dunk from Lucas Walker stunned the crowd and ignited his team.
Randle then came to life, his step-back jump-shots and acrobatic lay-ups drawing gasps from the crowd as he single-handedly carried his team to the cusp of a memorable victory that Holt calmly snuffed out.
Melbourne coach Dean Demopoulos appeared relieved after Melbourne had lost four of their previous five games.
"I think it was a really fine win for us. We've been up and down a bit but a lot of that has to do with the competition, it's a hell of a league," Demopoulos said.
Demopoulos also revealed the match-winning Holt had been battling an eye infection during the week.
"The fact that he put the time in the past few days to really get back his preparation is what made tonight possible for him and us," he said.
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