Melbourne United will host Sydney in the NBL semi-finals after a crucial 81-70 overtime win at home over Perth.
A low-scoring affair turned into high drama on Sunday afternoon at Melbourne Arena after the home side, trailing for most of the game, scored the final seven points to send the game into overtime.
With home-court advantage for their playoff series against the Kings on the line, United's Chris Goulding connected from long range with 14 seconds to play to level the scores at 68-68.
Melbourne dominated the extra period, outscoring the Wildcats 13-2 with Goulding thrilling the crowd by adding a pair of three-pointers to finish with 13 points.
"I challenged a few of the guys late in the game and I thought their response was outstanding," Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman said, citing the efforts of Goulding, DJ Kennedy and Casper Ware's defence on Bryce Cotton as decisive factors in the win.
Kennedy led United with 21 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, while Mitch McCarron's 15 points all came after halftime.
United shot the ball at a lowly 28 per cent in an ugly first half, although Perth could muster only a 34-29 lead.
A superb second-half performance from Nick Kay (22 points, eight rebounds) appeared to have the visitors set for victory but United's late assault swung the contest.
"I thought we played pretty well for most of the game, obviously we would have liked to close it out a little bit better," Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson said after the loss.
"It was a really hard, physical play-off game and that was really good for us."
After being caught in a three-team race for the minor premiership, the Wildcats closed the regular season with six wins in their final seven games to lock in home-court advantage for the semis.
Bryce Cotton finished with 11 points to claim the league's scoring title ahead of Cairns import Melo Trimble.
The Wildcats played without injured import Terrico White (wrist), although he is expected to be fit for their semi-final series against Brisbane.
Points were hard to come by early in the contest but, once Cotton started to find the basket, Perth reeled off nine points in a row to build a 16-12 edge after one quarter.
Kennedy and Craig Moller tried their best to lift the home side in the second quarter, but United closed the half with only 10 successful shots, but the Wildcats only increased their lead to five.
Kay took over the game after the main break, hitting twice from long range for 14 third-quarter points as Perth built a 52-45 advantage heading into the final term.
