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GOLD COAST - The Blaze blew away the cobwebs with a thrilling 91-86 victory over Singapore in last night's NBL clash at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
Coming off a 17-day break, the home side were a little rusty but still did enough to post a five-point win over the bottom-placed Slingers, who were playing their third game in four days.
The Gold Coast improved their win-loss record to 11-7 and snuck back into the top four while the Slingers, who upset Cairns last night, dropped to 4-19.
As usual star guard James Harvey was a dominant figure for the Blaze, scoring a game-high 31 points while import Juaquin Hawkins chipped in with 21.
For the Slingers, Rod Grizzard top-scored with 22 points and had 11 rebounds and Mike Helms bagged 19 points.
The Blaze raced to a 52-38 lead and looked to be have the game wrapped up against a tiring Slingers outfit before the visitors clawed their way back to trail by just one point late in the third quarter.
Singapore outpointed the Blaze in the third quarter, with Grizzard leading the way for his team, to set up an absorbing final quarter.
When a timeout was called with three-and-a-half minutes left on the clock, the Blaze led 84-82 and coaches Brendan Joyce and Gordie McLeod were looking more nervous than the man who proposed to his partner on-court during the first quarter break.
Casey Frank nailed a crucial three-pointer in the dying seconds to put the Blaze 90-86 ahead and virtually seal the result.
An animated Joyce will be relieved to escape with the win but knows his players will have to lift another gear when they take on champions Brisbane in the local derby next Saturday.
The Slingers will enjoy a mini-break before meeting Perth on January 2.
- AAP
