Steve Parillon today told his Genesis Brighton Bears colleagues to never stop believing after his buzzer-beater helped revive their faltering play-off challenge with a 124-122 win at Milton Keynes.
Bears overcame statistically one of the worst first halves of defence in BBL history, in which they conceded 72 points, to snatch victory in double overtime.
Parillon sank the hit-and-hope three-pointer to tie the scores at 104-104 on 40 minutes, then added the go-ahead putback with 15 seconds to go in the second added period.
It was another extraordinary twist to a rollercoaster season but Parillon said: "We've been through everything this year so nothing worries us.
"I've been watching college basketball all weekend and I've been seeing guys not giving up, going none-for-eight and still hitting the winning shot.
"I was about one-for-seven when I took that shot but when it went in it gave me confidence for overtime."
Fabulous shooting by the hosts only partly explained their monster first half score, though even then Bears were still in it at 14 points down.
Bears clamped down defensively to go on a 13-2 third-quarter run before edging into two brief leads in the fourth.
But they were still 103-97 adrift going into the last 50 seconds before Terrance McGee hit two free throws and Parillon added a lay-up off his own steal.
Kevin Griffin made one of two free throws with 11 seconds to go and, after McGee's threepoint attempt missed, the ball reached Parillon who scored falling back into the Lions bench with home fans already celebrating.
McGee's two free throws with 30 seconds to go were the final scores in the first added period but Lions got into massive foul trouble and five players were out of the game as Bears finished with a 7-2 run.
Quarter Scorers: 35-26, 37-32, 15-24, 17-22, 8-8, 10-12.
Milton Keyne scorers: Griffin 34, Jamison 28, Windless 20, Benjamin 15, Williams 8, Spinks 8, Youngblood 7, McCarthy 2.
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