Horsham product Shane McDonald has the chance to take home the inaugural NBL1 championship on Saturday night.
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McDonald helped guide the Nunawading Spectres through to the grand final last Sunday, hitting a game-changing basket in the dying minutes of their preliminary final.
The Spectres trailed by a point against the Ballarat Miners with less than two minutes left to play.
After a dysfunctional Nunawading play, the ball was passed to McDonald standing well outside the three point line with just seconds left on the shot clock.
With no other options, McDonald hoisted the ball up from deep and made the shot, giving the Spectres a two-point lead and all the momentum.
Nunawading would go onto win by seven points, 68-75.
McDonald said it was exciting to secure an upset against the favoured Miners.
"Ballarat have been the measuring stick all year on top of the ladder, so we knew we had to bring close to our A Game," he said.
"Especially to beat them at Ballarat in front of their home crowd. It was a pretty big win."
McDonald said his clutch shot in the dying minutes might have been the best of his long career.
"I guess just in terms of the importance of the game - a prelim final, really late in my career, down a point, a minute to go ... I've probably played 200 better games overall, but that shot in isolation is probably one of the bigger shots I've ever made," he said.
"I knew there wasn't long left on the shot clock when I caught it, probably two seconds. So I just let it fly and thankfully it went in. In the end, it was probably a pretty big momentum changer."
McDonald's beloved Nunawading will now face the Bendigo Braves in the championship game on Saturday night.
McDonald said it was an exciting opportunity, particularly as he nears the end of his playing career.
"We're a pretty experienced group. This will be our fourth grand final in eight or nine years, so the core group know each others games, each others personalities, and we're pretty confident coming in," McDonald said.
"It's exciting coming into the game to know we have a chance to ... do something that will forge a bond within the group for many years to come.
"There's excitement, a few nerves, just all of that emotion bundled into one. You don't want to waste the opportunity, but I think ... we'll back ourselves in."
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