Finn Delany has equalled his career-best with 33 points to lead Melbourne United to a gritty 82-68 victory over the Tasmania JackJumpers in the NBL play-in qualifier.
United took more than three quarters to finally shake off the pesky, undermanned JackJumpers at John Cain Arena on Thursday night.
Delany hit 13-of-19 from the field, aided by import Milton Doyle, who chipped in with 19 off the bench, including 5-of-9 three-pointers.
Nick Marshall played all 40 minutes and scored 20 points for Tasmania. David Johnson and Josh Bannan added 16 each.
The brave JackJumpers remarkably scored zero points off the bench, playing with a predominantly five-man rotation due to a lengthy injury list headlined by captain Will Magnay and American Bryce Hamilton.
Melbourne will now travel to Perth to face the Wildcats in the play-in game on Saturday.
"We knew (in the) second and fourth quarters, they (Tasmania) were going to play guys heavy minutes," United coach Dean Vickerman said.
"I thought if we could just keep chipping away, we'd be able to make some runs. In both those quarters we did."
Free-flowing scoring was at a premium early as both teams traded barren offensive droughts.
Bannan and Johnson piloted a 9-0 run which put the JackJumpers up 15-8, before United responded with an 18-4 run either side of quarter-time to march ahead 26-19.
Tasmania missed 14 successive field goals across almost eight minutes at one stage, but their fierce offensive rebounding kept them in touching distance.
The Jackies found Delany a tough cover as Melbourne took the second term 25-14 to turn a 15-17 quarter-time deficit into a 40-31 halftime advantage.
The third period was played on Tasmania's grinding terms and the visitors drew level briefly before United edged in front 56-55 at three-quarter-time.
With Tyson Walker hampered by foul trouble, Chris Goulding proppy due to a cyst behind his knee and big Jesse Edwards sidelined with back spasms, Melbourne looked in trouble.
But instead they snapped out of their malaise, led by Delany and Doyle, using an 11-2 fourth-quarter burst to streak ahead 74-61 as the depleted JackJumpers finally ran out of puff.
"This has probably been the most rewarding year of my career," Tasmania coach Scott Roth said after his side bowed out.
"Most teams can't sustain what we went through.
"This is better than a championship in a lot of ways ... we stuck our head up and we should be quite proud of what we did."
