South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell described John Roberson as being capable of "special things" after he produced one of the best individual shooting performances in NBL history.
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The Phoenix were on the brink of a damaging loss to fellow top-four aspirants Cairns on Sunday before Roberson unleashed a 21-point barrage in the final six minutes of play to secure the overtime victory.
The 30-year-old American caught the eye of South East Melbourne with his scoring outbursts in Europe, including a record-setting 42-point effort where he drained 11 three-pointers for French side ASVEL Villeurbanne in the EuroCup.
Roberson has demonstrated his long-range prowess during the Phoenix's debut season but he brought the Melbourne Arena crowd to their feet by forcing overtime with a pair of three-pointers then blowing the Taipans away in the extra period.
"It's stuff you know he's very capable of," Mitchell said after the mild-mannered point guard's late onslaught inspired the 112-105 win.
"We want him to get a little bit more involved earlier in the game and I'm going to continue to poke and prod him.
"He's a whirlwind, he does some special things."
With Cairns ahead by six inside the final minute, Roberson hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left then levelled the scores after the Taipans lost possession on their final play.
"To be honest it was a blur," Roberson said about the shot that sent the game into overtime.
"I just remember Dane (Pineau) getting me the outlet...I saw (Mitch) Creek on the wing, he acted like he was going to come set a screen.
"I guess they thought I was going to hand off to him and I kept dribbling, they missed the switch or whatever and I saw daylight so I let it go."
Roberson then opened the extra period with two more long-range bombs before going on to score 15 of South East Melbourne's 17 overtime points.
"We've been working so hard and we just couldn't get over that hump it felt like," he said after finishing with 32 points to end his team's run of five losses from the last six games.
"We have to clean up some stuff for sure ... we can't continue to keep putting ourselves in these positions but it was a great win for us."
Mitchell agreed that his squad needed to reduce their turnovers and mental errors but the opportunity was there to qualify for the semi-finals in their inaugural season.
"We don't just consider ourselves an expansion team, we feel like we are what we are right now, and we are going to have to blaze away through the rest of the season, and go take care of our business," Mitchell said.
Australian Associated Press
