The Magic Lions delivered the upset of the club basketball season on Saturday.
The Mid City club’s second team beat the club’s Magic A side 102-92.
It was the Lions’ third win in as many games, after losing five in a row to open the season.
The win ended the Magic A team’s string of unbeaten games, the first regular-season loss since 2016.
The Magic has made a habit of starting slowly and just doing enough to scrape a close win this year.
However, this time it left itself too much to do and when it tried to put its foot down in the second half, it was unable to come back.
Big man Nathan Hanna was key for the Lions. The youngster scored 35 points, while fellow Otago Boys’ High School pupil Tai Porima-Flavell added 23.
Meanwhile solid contributions from a host of other players helped the Lions lead 30-17 at the first break.
That continued through the second quarter, although the Magic pulled back two to trail 51-40 at halftime.
Turnovers were costly for the Magic and the intensity was lacking from its game.That picked up in the second half and Josh Aitcheson scored 23 of his 35 points in that period.
However, it was not enough to pull the Magic back, the Lions keeping a handy gap at 75-66 at the final break, before closing out the win.It takes them to three wins and leaves them tied with the Andy Bay Falcons in fourth in a tight playoff race.
• The Falcons also claimed a key win, snapping a three-game losing streak by beating Varsity 71-63.Hamish Robertson scored 30 points for the Falcons, showing his ability to get to the hoop as well as being a threat from outside with five three-pointers.
However, a depleted Varsity side battled well and after trailing at the first break, tied things up at 32-32 at halftime.
A strong third quarter was key for the Falcons, who got out to a 55-46 lead and while Varsity never went away, they were unable to close out the win.
Paul Won top-scored for Varsity with 16 points, while Mitchell Hughan was impressive and chipped in with 13.
• In the other game, the St Kilda Saints beat the City Rise Bombers 83-67 to share third place with them on five wins.
Both sides were missing key players, but the Saints made the best of what they had and streaked out to a 29-17 lead at the first break.
The Bombers pulled back to 45-37 at halftime, but a strong third quarter was key in getting the Saints home.
Final individual points were unavailable.
