The St Kilda Saints trailed by 10 points with six minutes to play.
Then James Ross took over.
The veteran guard, as he has done so many times before, almost single-handedly pulled the Saints back to put them in a winning position.
He scored 10 of the 12 points in a run which erased the 86-76 deficit, before coming up with the key steal and basket to beat the Andy Bay Falcons 97-93 in men’s club basketball on Saturday.
It kept the Saints’ unbeaten season alive and extended their win streak to 23 games, their last loss being the 2021 final.
Little separated the teams throughout the game on this occasion.
Sam Senior (33 points) got the Falcons off to a strong start from deep, but Ross (42 points) was equally capable of responding.
The Saints took a 21-20 lead to quarter-time, before Falcons centre Alex Yarnall had a strong period on the offensive glass to give the Falcons a 47-46 halftime lead.
Free throws dominated the third quarter, as the Falcons, in particular, found their way to the line.
Mike Ruske (16 points) helped keep the Saints in touch, but the Falcons led 74-71 at the final break.
Senior and Matt Pyper (13 points) took the Falcons on a run early in the fourth quarter to make it 86-76.
But at that point Ross took over.
He began getting steals on the defensive end and getting to the hoop to finish on the offensive.
His three-pointer gave the Saints the lead back at 90-89. The teams exchanged the lead another three times before Ross took it back for the last time.
Trailing by one, he was able to steal an inbound and finish at the hoop, giving the Saints a 94-93 lead they would not give up.
From there Ruske closed the game out at the line.
The Mid City Magic had a similarly tense game against the City Rise Bombers.
Patrick Freeman led it to an 86-83 victory, scoring 31 points and hitting the final free throws to clinch a tight win.
Olly Smith had 32 points for the Bombers.
In the late game Max Pearce had 20 points as the Magic Lions beat Varsity 83-62.
