No lead is insurmountable when the Otago Nuggets are chasing.
They have made a habit of slipping behind and running down the target late.
The hole was not quite as deep in Napier tonight.
But the Hawke’s Bay Hawks led at all the major checkpoints.
Jordan Ngatai (21 points) and Ira Lee (19 points) kept the home side in front for most of the game.
But the Nuggets just pulled away in the final two minutes to win 94-87.
The win lifted the visitors to 10-5, while the Hawks slipped to 5-10.
They still have not won a game at home all season and their playoff prospects look to have faded away.
The Nuggets, however, have enough points in the bank to start planning the playoff campaign.
Todd Withers did a lot of the heavy lifting in this one. The classy American power forward top scored with 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Co-conspirators Michael Harris (21 points) and Tai Webster (19 points, 10 rebounds) were instrumental as well.
But the No 1 priority will be working out what is going wrong in the first quarter.
The Nuggets got off to a slow start again. They do that quite often and found themselves trailing 13-5 early in the period.
Withers loves potting threes, though. He swished one through the net to provide an early spark.
Hawks import Lee rolled in a hook shot and picked up a foul in the process. He converted the extra.
Good player. Burnt the Nuggets late in Dunedin last month when he popped in a similar shot in the final seconds to clinch a 95-94 win.
Ethan Rusbatch dropped in a three from deep to help the Hawks take a 25-16 advantage into the break.
Ngatai popped in a three to rescue a poor possession for the Hawks and stretch the lead.
Michael Harris responded for the Nuggets. He used his speed to cut to the hoop and draw a foul.
He is awfully good at that. Slides by defenders like their sneakers are full of rocks.
The gap was gradually getting bigger, though.
The Nuggets called a timeout to work out a plan to trim the now 12-point lead.
Withers had a three roll out and Webster made some space to shoot from deep but missed.
Darcy Knox drilled a couple of triples which helped plenty.
His court time has fallen away since Webster and Nikau McCullough have joined the side, so it would have felt good to sink them. But more importantly it took a decent chunk out of the lead.
Wither slammed in a dunk and Michael Harris hit a monster three to confirm the visitors were most definitely back in the contest.
But Ngatai hit a three-point jumper and made a lay-up to re-establish some of the buffer and the 45-39 lead at halftime.
Withers started the third with a dunk. McCullough found him near the hoop with a quality pass.
Some tenacious defence from Jack Andrew on the post created that opportunity.
Webster twisted harder on the throttle and made a classy cut to the hoop. He also found Withers unmarked at the top of the key with a nice dish.
Mark that down for three. He does not miss with that much time.
Ngatai continued to be a pest. He added to his mounting tally.
Hyrum Harris banked a shot off the glass in heavy traffic to complete the scoring in the period.
Hawks were up 63-62.
This one was destined for a dramatic final couple of minutes. But actually, the Nuggets just edged away to win by seven.
They got a lead and protected it by making their free throws.
The scores
Otago Nuggets 94
Todd Withers 23, Michael Harris 21
Hawke’s Bay Hawks 87
Jordan Ngatai 21, Ira Lee 19
Quarter scores: 16-25, 39-45, 62-63.
