The injury-ravaged Brisbane Bullets have produced a win for the ages to keep their slim NBL finals hopes alive and put those of the Adelaide 36ers in jeopardy with a 92-89 victory.
It's still going to take a lot to go the way of the Bullets for them to be any hope of breaking into the top-six, but their performance in Adelaide on Friday showed great heart and spirit.
Brisbane scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter for the only double-figure lead of the game and then held out Adelaide late who could not get back any closer than two.
The Bullets improve to 12-16 after Casey Prather proved brilliant with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Adelaide's Kendric Davis sealed his off-shooting night with a miss on the buzzer.
Kendric went 7-of-22 for the game and 1-of-8 from deep when he missed an attempted tying three for Adelaide, leaving them 13-14 as they missed a chance to confirm sixth position.
It was the 14th straight sell-out of the season for the 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and while Brisbane arrived missing Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky, Josh Bannan, Emmett Naar and Deng Adel, they were on a mission.
The Bullets led for a lot of the first half, but Montrezl Harrell and Davis combined for the last five points to give Adelaide the 45-42 lead.
Little separated the teams with Adelaide going 15-of-38 from the field and Brisbane 15-of-37 before the Bullets sent a message to the home team with the first eight points of the last quarter to lead by 13.
The Sixers answered with the next 11 but Brisbane weren't to be denied, with Prather receiving plenty of help as Keandre Cook tallied 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Tohi Smith-Milner also had 14 points and 10 boards with four threes, Isaac White 13 points and four assists, Josh Adams 10 points and five rebounds, and captain Mitch Norton 10 points, five rebounds and three assists along with terrific defence on Davis.
"When you think about everything we've gone through, it was just about getting the guys to understand they are doing a great job," Bullets coach Justin Schueller said.
"I've got six guys in double-figures, everyone that came in gave us something and I'm just super proud of how resilient this group really is."
It could be a pivotal loss for Adelaide, who will finish on the road to South East Melbourne and Perth.
Davis finished with 24 points and 10 assists despite his shooting woes.
Harrell provided 20 points and 10 rebounds, DJ Vasiljevic 20 points, 10 boards and four assists, and Isaac Humphries 14 points, six rebounds and three assists.
"That one stings a little bit tonight," said Adelaide coach Mike Wells.
"You want to put on a good show for these fans who have been unbelievably supportive this year with 14 sell-outs.
"You want to come in and play well and get a win, and it feels bad, really bad to have that be the last regular-season home game."
