Matthew Dellavedova's clutch free-throw has secured NBL leaders Melbourne United a hard-earned 82-81 win over the New Zealand Breakers.
The Breakers, grand finalists last season, and United were coming off defeats ahead of doing battle at a sold-out TSB Stadium in New Plymouth.
Trying to break into the top six, the Breakers raced out to a 15-6 advantage with 21-year-old Lithuanian Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius putting up 11 points in the first quarter.
United were up against it, missing key starting pair Jo Lual-Acuil (personal reasons) and Shea Ili (concussion symptoms), but they still had their captain Chris Goulding.
Goulding hit Melbourne's lone three-pointer of the half on his way to 24 points for the match but it was Breakers star forward Anthony Lamb who finished the second quarter with three triples as his team led 44-39 at halftime.
The scores were locked at 62-62 at three-quarter-time and they were still level when Melbourne had the last possession.
Dellavedova was left isolated on Breakers guard Will McDowell-White who reached in to foul.
The Melbourne United man smartly rose up to make it look like he was shooting and it was deemed he'd get the two free-throws.
He made the first and deliberately missed the second, with Breakers forward Zylan Cheatham (11 points, 10 boards) grabbing the rebound.
Unfortunately for the Breakers, the former NBA player tried to call a timeout which you can't do in the NBL. Time expired and Melbourne won by one to remain clear in top spot with a 16-5 season record.
Dellavedova finished with 14 points and 10 assists for United while Luke Travers had 13 points and 11 boards, and Ariel Hukporti 12 points.
United coach Dean Vickerman was proud of his team's fight.
"It was absolutely a gutsy win," he said.
"We talked about one of the challenges in sport is once you get to a good level, trying to stay there.
"We've been really challenged in some of the games in this period.
"But we've responded really well and haven't had two losses in a row.
"There was a conscious effort from the whole group to say there was enough in this locker-room to go ahead and win the game."
The loss leaves the Breakers struggling at 8-11 despite 22 points and eight rebounds from Lamb, 21 points and five assists from Parker Jackson-Cartwright, and 13 points and three blocks from Mangok Mathiang.
Breakers coach Mody Maor was upbeat despite the defeat.
"It was a heavyweight battle, a great opponent and they tested us in many ways," he said.
"A lot of the things we did I really liked. "The ending less, but it's something that we'll learn from and how we respond now is what matters.
"We can either feel sad for ourselves for letting this one drop, or we can be p***ed and step into the next game with something to prove."
