The Tasmania JackJumpers entered the game furious, but their composure led by Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh has taken them to a 102-94 victory over the Perth Wildcats and forced their Playoffs series to a decider.
The Wildcats were attempting to close out the series in Hobart on Monday night and led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Doyle took charge in the third quarter with 15 points.
McVeigh (22 points), Majok Deng (18), Sean Macdonald (12, five assists) and Will Magnay (15 points, seven rebounds, four assists) all played pivotal roles as Tasmania outscored Perth 55 to 42 in the second half.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth was beaming with pride afterwards.
"It was an incredible building this evening, quite resilient by our group to fight and obviously I'm proud of them and their competitiveness to fight back from a deficit," he said.
"It's just one game but the resilience of this group was outstanding."
While the opening game in Perth was dramatic, with the home team finishing the better, tension built over the weekend.
An unsportsmanlike foul late in the game on Tasmania centre Marcus Lee became a one-game suspension by Sunday and the JackJumpers didn’t like how the situation unfolded.
There were 4340 at MyState Bank Arena to get behind their team and 'welcome' the Wildcats on Monday night, but Perth shook that off and took control with the first six points.
That lead was 11-4 when Bryce Cotton landed a three, with the visitors still up 29-21 after one on the back of 14 free-throws to one.
Perth led 52-47 at halftime, but Tasmania hit the last five points - including a triple on the buzzer from captain Clint Steindl (seven) - to grab some momentum.
After superstar guards Cotton and Doyle combined for just 27 points on 7-of-28 shooting in the opening game, they starred this time around and put on quite the show.
Four-time MVP Cotton had 26 points for the Wildcats while Doyle fired up with those 15 third quarter points on his way to 24 and six rebounds with 4-of-9 from deep.
That helped the JackJumpers grab the lead as they wore the visitors down.
Another triple from Steindl with six minutes to play pushed Tasmania to a seven-point lead, Macdonald stretched it to nine and they went on to win by eight to force a decider.
Kristian Doolittle had 20 points and nine rebounds for Perth with opening game hero Keanu Pinder only playing 13 and-a-half minutes for seven points and five boards.
Perth coach John Rillie quickly turned attention to the decider.
"It's playoff basketball, that's what the first two games have been," he said.
"Game three, let's go."
The winner on Wednesday night in Perth will play the victor of game three between Melbourne United and the Illawarra Hawks, who play on the same day.
