They beat the City Rise Bombers 97-95 on Saturday, moving to 7-0 in the Dunedin men’s club basketball season, handing the defending champion Bombers their second loss in the process.
While this streak might not have produced the runaway dominance of past Magic teams, they have shown three times the ability to find ways to win in tough situations.
And on Saturday, they needed that.
The Bombers gave them absolutely everything.
Matt Brien led the way for City Rise with 40 points, including a wild three-pointer in the final seconds to send the game to overtime.
Defensively they were tough, too, limiting penetration while also holding the Magic to just four made three-pointers.
Despite that the Magic duo of Dallas Hartmann and Toby Lewis had 24 and 20 points respectively, both key down the stretch.
The Magic opened an early 16-11 lead, as Hartmann got downhill to the hoop.
However, the Bombers hit back to tie the score at 18-18 by quarter-time, before Elijah Smiler (13 points) became potent from deep.
He propelled them to a 41-32 lead midway through the second quarter, as the Magic offence struggled to penetrate a tight Bombers defence.
City Rise held a 41-35 lead at halftime, and while the Magic lifted, the Bombers always had an answer to lead 63-62 at the third quarter break.
The Magic finally took an 81-80 lead on a Hartmann layup with two minutes to play, at which point momentum shifted so it was them dictating and the Bombers responding.
But respond the Bombers did.
Mid City looked to have wrapped it up as two Lewis free throws made it 84-81.
But Brien dribbled down the court and banked in a wild triple while being tightly guarded, with four seconds remaining.
Hartmann and Lewis both hit mid-range pull-ups to give the Magic a four-point buffer early in overtime.
However, the Bombers stuck around and Patrick Tipene hit a tough three-pointer from the top to close the gap to 91-90.
Toby Kendon added one for the Magic, before Brien got to the line to tie the scores at 92-92.
Ieremia Morris (13 points) made a tough finish to give the Magic back the lead, but he could not finish the three-point play, leaving Brien to convert another two at the line to make it 94-94 with 46 seconds left.
But Hartmann again found his way to the line to hit two, giving the Magic a final lead it would relinquish, both teams trading a make-miss free throw combination in the dying seconds.
The Magic’s win followed a similarly hard-fought 92-87 win over the St Kilda Saints during Thursday’s midweek round.
The Bombers had beaten the Andy Bay Falcons 74-60 on Thursday.
Varsity had a good week with an 85-42 win over the Falcons on Saturday, to follow a 90-84 win over the Mid City Lions on Thursday.
The Lions bounced back on Saturday with a 97-74 win over the Saints.
