When someone needed to take over the game, Mitchell Hughan stepped up.
The Mid City Magic guard propelled his team on a fourth-quarter blitz, scoring 15 of his 26 points as the Magic ran away with an 86-68 win over the St Kilda Saints.
Little had separated men's club basketball's two leading teams this season.
Their first meeting was an overtime win to the Saints, and the margin was very rarely more than three points in the first three quarters of this one.
Yet when the Magic moved, it moved quickly.
Hughan opened the fourth quarter with a triple, Brent Cheshire finished a reverse lay-up off a back cut, Hughan knocked down another triple and Tai Poruma-Flavell hit a mid-range jumper.
In 90 seconds the score had gone from 52-50 to 62-50.
And that was more or less the game.
Mike Ruske (23 points) began to generate some scoring for the Saints, stemming the bleeding.
But the Magic never let the margin back to single digits.
Hughan hit another two triples to hold off a Saints comeback, while Dallas Hartmann (18 points) was equally key down the stretch in helping the Magic build its lead.
Prior to that, it had been an even match-up.
A messy first quarter left the teams locked at 13-13, before Ruske's floater helped the Saints on a mini-run to take a 22-15 lead.
It largest margin either team had held against the other this season, but it did not last long.
Joe Ahie hit a three-pointer to spark a run back from the Magic, in which Hartmann was key in reeling in the deficit to give the Magic a brief lead.
The Saints took a 34-32 lead to halftime and, while the Magic held two short-lived four-point leads, the teams went back and forward to keep the margin at one through most of the third quarter.
The Magic led 52-50 heading into the final quarter, at which point Hughan's three-pointer set the Magic on its way.
In the other game, Sam Senior had 26 points to lead the Andy Bay Falcons to a 102-96 win over the Magic Lions.
The game remained tight most of the way, before a 10-0 run late in the third quarter helped give the Falcons a buffer.
The third game of the day, between the City Rise Bombers and Varsity, was deferred due to university holidays.
It leaves the Magic on top of the table with a 9-1 record at the conclusion of the second round.
The Saints follow, one game behind, while the Lions, Falcons and Bombers form a log-jam with five, four and three wins each in the third to fifth spots.
