Half a second is not a hell of a lot of time, but it was all Mandurah Magic stud Trevor Setty needed to lift his side to a thrilling victory over the Lakeside Lightning on Saturday night.
Trailing by a point with 0.57 seconds left on the clock, Setty threw up a prayer and nailed a three-point, buzzer-beating bomb to gift his side their fifth victory of the 2016 season.
Magic head coach Jason Kyle described the final play as “a bit of a blur”.
“It was an amazing last minute of basketball, and despite our guys playing good defence they managed to get a shot off and take the lead with less than a second remaining,” he said.
“But luckily we managed to draw something up and get a shot off – it was an amazing feeling to take the win.”
The shot came from a two-option play drawn up by coach Kyle, which was based on getting Setty open for a three or having Thomas Remmerswaal pass in to the basket for an alley-oop dunk.
“Missing Ben Smith we didn’t have many big guys to pass to for the dunk, so getting Trev (Setty) open was the most likely outcome,” coach Kyle said.
“He’s a terrific catch and shoot player and was able to knock down a shot that would make any highlight reel in the world.”
The lead changed five times in the final 20 seconds of the game, with Lakeside pulling off a terrific shot to take the lead in the final second.
But Setty’s hail Mary shot put his side ahead 104-102 at the buzzer.
The game was a back-and-forth tussle throughout with both sides wrestling for momentum.
Lakeside took a two-point lead into the final quarter, but eventually fell short of a win.
Setty was by far the best player on the court, dominating the Lightning by putting up an enormous double-double with 45 points and 12 rebounds.
But coach Kyle said the hard work put in from the bench players, who tallied 31 points for the Magic, was a huge factor in helping his side to a win.
“We’ve really struggled keeping a flow of scoring going at times but to see our bench heavily contribute is really pleasing,” he said.
Chad Simpson (11 points, two rebounds), Daniel Florance (eight points, nine rebounds) and Jordan Barlow (12 points) all played key roles coming off the bench.
A breakout game from Remmerswaal was also a big factor in the victory.
Replacing Smith, Remmerswaal tallied 18 points and seven rebounds in the match.
The Magic will now look to take the confidence gained in their last-second win over to their upcoming match against Perth on Friday night.
Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 8.30pm at Belmont Oasis.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
