A career night from Illawarra Hawks guard Will Hickey has forced the NBL Championships Series to a fifth and deciding game.
Hickey scored a career-high 22 points to go along with eight assists, five rebounds, and three steals in more than 30 minutes of court time, the Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi man's performance leading the Hawks over Melbourne United 80-71 on the road at John Cain arena.
Hickey's extended minutes came as the Hawks took to the court without star point guard Trey Kell and following the loss of Sam Froling, who suffered a suspected ruptured achilles shortly after halftime.
Post-game, Hawks coach Justin Tatum said he was proud of how "locked in" the 26-year-old was in the do-or-die encounter.
"Davo played exceptionally well," Tatum said. "He's an energy guy and when he gets going on both ends he can produce. We needed somebody to score today and I'm glad he was part of it.
"I just liked his energy and determination. He understood that he was potentially going to start a day ago and he was locked in from the scout on what he needed to do and how we can be more effective.
"When Melbourne had played a four or a five on him it kinda disrupted us for the first couple of games, so he was just unbelievably locked in."
The absence of key Hawks personnel combined with Hickey's performance lead commentator Jack Heverin to label the Illawarra's victory "one of the most remarkable wins in franchise history".
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Following his season's best performance, Hickey said his team had to dig deep to come away with the win.
"I know that we are the best bounce-back team in the league. In knowing that, it sort of settles your nerves a little bit," he said.
"Coming into the game I was nervous but when you have the calibre of players that we have on our team ... it makes your job a bit easier.
"We understood - and so did Sam - that we had to lock in. As long as we all locked in we knew that we were the better team.
"They are a great team so (the final) will be a different kind of locked in ... it's going to be a good one."
Alongside Hickey, centre Lachlan Olbrich scored 13 points while Hawks captain Tyler Harvey scored 12.
Veterans Matthew Dellavadova and Chris Goulding top scored for United with 17 points each.
The Hawks will host United in the Championship decider at Illawarra's WIN Entertainment Centre on Sunday afternoon.
