Milton Doyle's clutch three-pointer, followed by Finn Delany's inspirational defensive rebound in the dying seconds, have delivered Melbourne United a heartstopping 74-73 NBL win over the Perth Wildcats.
After Jo Lual-Acuil Jr's tip-in gave the Wildcats a 73-71 lead at RAC Arena on Sunday, Doyle came up big late.
He calmly buried a stepback three over Lual-Acuil with 30 seconds remaining to put United up by one.
Perth's Kristian Doolittle then missed a triple for the lead with 10 seconds left, before a leaping, diving Delany beat two Wildcats for the rebound, which he flicked to Doyle.
Doyle finished with 24 points and eight assists off the bench for fourth-ranked Melbourne (18-10), while fellow import Jesse Edwards paired 18 points with 17 rebounds.
It was a memorable milestone match for Chris Goulding, who became the 15th player in league history to play 500 games.
The only negative was import Tyson Walker exiting the game late in the first quarter after injuring his jaw in a collision with Doolittle.
"Finding a way to get a win was pretty special," United coach Dean Vickerman said.
"Gutsy without Tyson. Milton had to do a lot for us, and others had to do a lot, so gutsy win."
Lual-Acuil (24 points, 11 boards) and Doolittle (19) starred for fifth-placed Perth (16-11), whose five-game win streak came to an end.
Melbourne's offence was ragged early as the Wildcats pulled ahead 24-12 at quarter-time.
It was the Wildcats' turn to go cold in the second period, failing to register a field goal until the clock showed 4:42 left.
United gradually ate into the deficit and trailed 38-40 on Doyle's monster three as the halftime buzzer sounded.
Melbourne's offensive woes returned in a dour third stanza.
Malith Machar's floater with 1:41 remaining was their first field goal of the quarter after Perth had pulled ahead 52-41.
But at the other end, the Wildcats weren't exactly lighting up the scoreboard.
United scored the last nine points of the period - Edwards with the last seven - to slash Perth's cushion to 52-50 at three-quarter-time, before the lead changed hands multiple times down the stretch.
"I felt like we had a couple of opportunities throughout the game to really assert ourselves," Wildcats coach John Rillie said.
"When you've got two teams fighting for what was at stake, and you give someone (Melbourne) an opportunity, it becomes how it showed at the end of the game."
