The Eastern Mavericks senior teams both made the long journey to Starplex Stadium at Gawler last Saturday night to compete against the Central Districts Lions in Round 5 of the Central Australian Basketball League.

The Mavericks Men were expected to triumph with a little more ease than they did in recent Round 2 and Round 4 games against the Sturt Sabres and the Southern Tigers respectively.

The Lions outfit was yet to record a win from the opening four outings of the 2011 season.

As was the case against Sturt, the men claimed victory in another heart stopper, when it took a pair of converted foul shots by guard Jack Madgen with just .09 of a second  remaining to break an 88-all deadlock.

After Madgen completed the free throws, Centrals in-bounded the ball and heaved up a prayer from the backcourt as the siren sounded.

The shot fell well wide of the target, leaving Eastern claim a shaky last gasp 90-88 victory.

The Eastern men were expected to claim the prize against the Lions who have lost their opening three matches to South Adelaide by 22 points, West Adelaide by 8 points and Sturt by 12 points.

The Mavericks team entered Saturday nights match strengthened by the inclusion of Ben Madgen, who was available for the first time this season after overcoming an injury sustained during the NBL season with the Sydney Kings.

However, Madgen’s  gain was offset by the loss of workhorse and utility player Shane Breheny who sustained a back injury in the previous round against the Southern Tigers.

Breheny failed to complete training during the week and hopes to be available for the next round.  “It’s disappointing not to be able to play, but I have to be careful not to aggravate the problem,” reflected Breheny on the sidelines.

“This is the first game I have missed in the last four or five years due to injury, but I should be right for next week’s game against the Rockets.”

During the clash against the Lions little separated the sides throughout, with both teams only able to establish a 10 point buffer at any given time.

There were 17 lead changes and scores were locked on 4 occasions before the result came down to the final seconds of the game.

Until that point of the contest, 202 cm Lions centre Daniel Carlin, import Joshua Kollasach, Luke Frost and Mathew Atkins had been damaging to Eastern’s chances of claiming victory.

Coach Scott Whitmore elected to keep those players in the match for the majority of the time, with Carlin seeing the full 40 minutes of court time without being rested, while Kollasch was used until he was fouled out late in the last quarter.

At the end of the first quarter Centrals led 21-15 and maintained that margin with a 46-40 advantage at the half-time interval.

At the end of the third term the Lions scored the closing three baskets to ease the margin out 68-61 after Eastern grabbed the lead for the first time in the match at the mid stage of the term.

In the last quarter, four quick baskets to Rudi Dancis and a three-pointer to Aaron Bruce allowed Eastern to storm back to a 73-72 lead after Centrals appeared capable of producing  an unexpected win.

Baskets to Carlin, Frost (three-pointer) and Kollasch thrust the Lions back in front by four points (82-78) with four minutes remaining.

With two and half minutes left Mavericks playing coach Brad Hill converted on a base line play, only to be fouled by Kollasch who picked up his fifth foul.

Kollasch’s departure from the game at such a crucial stage seemed to unsettle the Lions.

When Hill scored next basket with just over 90 seconds to play, Eastern gained an 87-86 lead.

Carlin then converted two foul shots after he was fouled, pushing Centrals back in front 88-87 with just 38 seconds remaining. 

Twenty seven seconds remained as Hill was awarded two shots after he was fouled.

Hill missed the first but hit the second to level the scores on 88-all.

During the final hectic seconds, Centrals’ Atkins launched a three-pointer that missed, Daniel Wilson tried for a 2-pointer that missed, while Carlin grabbed the rebound in the keyway, but under immense pressure his shot also failed to convert.

Jack Madgen then snared the loose ball rebound only to be fouled by Wilson as the game clock was halted with just .09 of second remaining in the match.

With the Lions over the foul limit Madgen headed to the foul line to take the two fouls shots awarded and he cooly iced both shots, giving Eastern a 90-88 lead, and in the process fulfilled every players dream of hitting the winning shot.

With the siren about to sound, Centrals launched a prayer from the backcourt, but the shot fell well short as the siren sounded.

Eastern claimed its second dramatic victory of the season after the Lions had led for 34 minutes of the contest.

Eastern Mavericks 90 (B Hill 36, A Bruce 18, Ben Madgen 15, Mark Hautop 10) defeated the Central District Lions 88.

By David Tonks