AUBURN — Two teams struggling to stay afloat in the Mountain Valley Conference turned what could have been a ho-hum basketball game into a dogfight that featured clutch performances and raw determination Friday night.

St. Dom’s and Telstar picked away at each right down to the final seconds and provided fans with some surprising melodrama before the Saints slipped away with a 46-41 victory over the Rebels.

The game was tied at 33 after three quarters when the Saints (3-6) made their move on offense, despite Telstar’s (4-7) tenacity on defense.

St. Dom’s Mike Bryant, who made name for himself from the perimeter Friday night, tossed in one of his five 3-pointers to go along with his 17 points, giving the Saints a 36-33 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Big man Becket Wagner, a 6-foot-6 senior center, made things happen inside the paint with a field goal and a free-throw before the Rebels got a 3-pointer from Jarrett Bean and Cameron Pike (15 points), who made good on a layup — and just like that St. Dom’s was leading by just a point.

“Mikey Bryant hit some 3’s and got us going, and we used Becket down on the baseline, and he’s hard to guard down there,” St. Dom’s coach Todd Flaherty said.

No kidding.

Bryant launched another 3-pointer and Adam Vining dropped in two more, making things more comfortable for the Saints, who now lead 42-38 with 1:07 left in the game.

But the Rebels showed no signs of letting up when sophomore guard Avry Griffin landed a 3-pointer.

The Saints turned to Beckett, who slipped in the last two points underneath the basket to seal Telstar’s fate. Beckett had 17 points for the evening and 10 rebounds.

But Flaherty wasn’t taken aback when the game was transformed into a donnybrook.

“Everybody other than the top five is just a dogfight,” Flaherty said. “Everybody is fighting for those Heal points. I was really impressed with Telstar’s fight. We struggled early to get the ball in the basket, but I was impressed with our guys’ fortitude, too.

“We’ve kind of turned into a zone team, and that’s not my preference. That seems to work for us. We mixed it up a little bit. We were in our 1-3-1 tonight because they were hurting us at the high post, and we took that away.”

After a feel-good performance by the Saints in the first quarter, they suffered a lapse in the second and committed seven turnovers. And the Rebels got wise to Wagner’s antics inside the paint and double teamed the tall fellow.

“I am always pretty happy with the fight, execution not so much,” Telstar coach Michael Pelletier said. “We are in the same position — both teams. We are going through similar size schools and similar problems that we have. We are a ski school; They are a hockey school. So we are very similar.

“It was hard-fought game, but I don’t know how well it was played. We struggled against zone and the 6-foot-6 kid.”

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