Miracle comeback for Blaze

Gold Coast Blaze has produced a miraculous comeback to prevail 84-79 over league-leaders Perth Wildcats at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on Saturday night.

The Blaze trailed by as many as 20 in the first-half and looked in danger of an embarrassing loss, but shut the Wildcats out with a 23-5 third term to get back in the match.

James Harvey top-scored with 16 for Gold Coast, but import Erron Maxey came up with all the clutch plays as the Blaze came storming home.

After tying the scores at the end of the third, Maxey nailed the match-winning three with 40 seconds to play sending the crowd into raptures.

Anthony Petrie was again in the thick of things, his defence in the second-half being the catalyst for the win while his smart play to draw a fourth foul on Luke Schenscher proved decisive.

With no recognised centre in the line-up, Gold Coast was always going to struggle in the middle and they did so through the early parts of the match.

Schenscher and Shawn Redhage toyed with the Blaze would-be bigs in the paint and when the defence started to collapse Perth's wingmen started to get hot from down-town.

But when Perth Coach Rob Beveridge was forced to sit Schenscher down early in the third, the momentum swung completely.

In a tense opening to the match Perth attempted to establish a post presence while the Coast did its best to keep Schenscher from catching the ball in the paint.

Steven Weigh and Adam Gibson traded threes early in the piece before Redhage got his first points following a missed lay-in, and then Perth went on a run.

Triples from Redhage and Kevin Lisch sent the visitors on a 10-0 streak to open an 11-point margin and prompt Joey Wright to call timeout.

The Blaze came out firing after instructions, and smooth moves from Chris Goulding and Vukona trimmed the deficit to five, but Redhage stepped up to drill his third from downtown and establish an eight-point quarter-time lead.

It was more of the same in the second term with Perth opening up a 20-point margin as the Blaze continued to struggle on the boards and to put the ball in the hoop.

While the 216cm frame of Schenscher garnered all the attention, Perth continued to bomb away with Drew Williamson nailing a hat-trick of shots from long range in the second.

James Harvey began to get his eye in with ten points from one area of the court in the quarter, but by half-time the score had blown out to 56-38.

Whatever Coach Wright said at the main break did the job as the Blaze came out a different team in the third term, tightening the screws to outscore Perth 23-5.

Harvey ignited the crowd with a three to start a 12-0 run but the big play came when Petrie forced Schenscher into his fourth foul, which caused Rob Beveridge to sit the big-man down.

Petrie also snatched a couple of steals and ran the floor to finish while Goulding produced a circus shot from behind the backboard and drew the foul.

On the stroke of three-quarter-time Erron Maxey nailed a pair from the stripe to square it up at 61 with a quarter to play.

Teams traded baskets to open the fourth with Weigh cashing in from downtown, but then Maxey came to the party.

Catching the ball in