WHOEVER coined the phrase "a minute is a long time in basketball" knew what they were talking about.

The final 60 seconds of Solent Stars men's second team's game at London Eagles were bizarre to say the least.

Stars went into the last minute of National League Division 3 East combat leading by seven points, only to see their advantage trimmed to 73-70.

With 30 seconds left, Eagles' Spaniard, Perez, was fouled as he attempted a shot from three-point range.

Three free throws were duly awarded, but Perez then elbowed Solent's Liam Wyatt, which meant three shots for Eagles followed by two shots and possession for Solent.

Perez stepped to the line and had his first foul shot disallowed by referee Nick Bedwell and the next two he inexplicably threw away.

There were no such problems for Solent's Ryan Payne, who went down the other end and sank both shots, making it 75-70 in the south coast club's favour.

More twists and turns followed as Solent threw away possession from the half-line ball and, in the process, Girgis scored a lay-up for the Eagles and was fouled by Payne, who left the court on five fouls. Girgis hit the bonus shot, making it 75-73.

With 13.8 seconds left, Solent's Dave McKay was fouled and hit one of his two free shots. Then Eagles came down and hit a difficult jump shot, clawing back to 76-75.

On the put-in, Solent threw the ball the ball out of bounds at the far end of the court with 3.2 seconds to go. Eagles' Sladjevic took the ball to the halfway line, put up the shot and, unbelievably, the ball rimmed and bounced away, sealing Solent the most dramatic of victories.

This Saturday Solent take on Westside at Fleming Park (6pm) in a bid to regain their place at the top of the table.

Solent scorers: Aung 18, Milner 14, Payne 13, Donaldson 9, Dawson 7, Wyatt 6, McKay 6, Rumsey 3.