Needing a win to stay in contention for the playoffs, the Magic shot off to an early advantage before the game was squared at halftime and the Yowies led by two points at the final break.

But battling illness that kept him out of the game for large patches, Martin stepped up with consecutive three-pointers in the opening minute of the final quarter to give Moss Vale a lead.

In a tight defensive match, Martin’s six points turned the three quarter deficit into a 42-38 lead and gave the Magic momentum and confidence in the final quarter.

But Martin’s efforts were soon wasted as some sharp shooting by Queanbeyan’s big men put the competition front runners in the lead 47-46 with four minutes left to play.

It was then that youngster Dayne Hutchinson stepped up for the Magic, securing an offensive foul and then nailing a long bomb to put the Magic in front.

Moss Vale ran away with the game in the final minutes to finish nine points in front.

Magic coach Kevin Campbell said a change in tactics, along with the good work of Martin and Hutchinson, secured the win.

“We tried something a bit different in the third-quarter,” he said after the match.

“We pulled our big guys off the court and let our littler and younger guys play.”

Campbell said the move had allowed the team’s talls Todd Bentley and Norman Stanton to be fresh for the final term.

“We have struggled in the final quarter in the past few games so it was time to try something different,” he said.

And the gamble paid off.

The Magic lost the third quarter by two points, but those points were insignificant when the fulltime siren sounded and the season-high crowd cheered.

Martin scored a game-high 14 points and was handed the Moss Vale Village Pharmacy MVP award.

o The win capped off a successful weekend for the Moss Vale Basketball Association’s state league team.

On Friday night they held their annual fundraising trivia night which was a huge success with almost $3000 raised.

Campbell said the money would be used to cover the costs of fielding the state league team.