They trailed Varsity most of the way, before rallying in the last five minutes to notch a 81-76 win in Dunedin men’s club basketball on Saturday.
Varsity led 69-62, with just over five minutes to play, when St Kilda ignited.
Tyler Lapham collected a miss in the paint, before going back up to close the gap to five.
Back-to-back three-pointers to Ben Foote and Will de Geest followed, before an Ethan Martin free throw and another Foote triple took the score to 74-69.
It was the defining period of the game. The 12-0 run robbed the students of what could have been their first win of the season.
Jack Hollingworth showed his class for Varsity, as he did all day, to pull it back to 74-74.
But a De Geest floater gave the Saints a lead they would not relinquish, as he and Lapham closed out the win in a drawn-out ending at the free-throw line.
It was that trio of De Geest, Lapham and Foote that did the bulk of St Kilda’s scoring damage.
They posted 26, 20 and 19 points respectively, giving their team multiple threats in the absence of several other key players.
However, it was Varsity that led most of the way, and Hollingworth’s 27 points were significant in that.
The star guard showed all his class in getting to the hoop, using footwork and a tidy spin move to score regularly.
Harry Gordon (14 points) also had a productive first quarter, as Varsity shot out to a 26-17 lead.
That closed to a point early in the second quarter, but became 37-30, as the Saints’ offence dried up in the period before halftime.
The Saints’ again closed the margin, this time to three, before a pair of Leo Sanderson (17 points) three-pointers were key in a run that took the students back to 61-47.
But the Saints stemmed the flow. They got the score back to 61-56 through De Geest’s left-handed floater, which he proved adept at getting over Varsity’s rim-protection.
Varsity clung on, before their offence flat-lined and the Saints went on the run that would win them the game.
The win leaves the Saints 3-2 at the end of the first round, while Varsity remain winless at the bottom of the table.
The City Rise Bombers capitalised on either side of three-quarter time to beat the Mid City Lions 86-78.
Matt Brien led the way with 22 points, Nikora Kavanagh and Harry Townsend had 15 each.
Harry Bezett had 27 points for the Lions.
It leaves the Bombers in second with a 4-1 record, while the Lions hold fourth spot at 2-3.
In the late game, the Mid City Magic remained unbeaten, winning a high-scoring encounter 118-91 over the Andy Bay Falcons.
Callum Chirnside had 27 points for the Magic, while Oliver McElihinney had 32 for the Falcons.
