Blood may be thicker than water but not even an ill-timed dash of the red stuff could halt Joel Murray and his band of basketball brothers from carrying Mandurah Magic to the most unlikely of grand final returns.

As he has been all season, Murray was the man in Sunday’s preliminary final, inspiring the Magic to a pulsating comeback and eventual overtime victory over the highly favoured Joondalup Wolves.

It was he who, with 16 seconds remaining in overtime and scores tied at 88, stood poised at mid-court counting down the clock before trying to win the game with a long-range pull-up jumper.

The shot didn’t drop — but Wolves’ back-up Victor Chadinha was called for a contact foul as Murray landed, which sent one of the league’s safest free-throw shooters to the line.

And with precisely one second remaining on the clock, the league MVP hit all three attempts to ice the result and send his side into this Saturday’s grand final against Willetton after the Tigers shocked last year’s champions Geraldton in the other preliminary final.

Murray finished with 40 points to be easily the most dominant player in the 91-88 victory, which came less than 48 hours after the Magic had outlasted Goldfields Giants 110-93 in a knockout semi final.

No one else on his side scored more than 13 in Sunday’s game, although Michael Durr, Julian Pesava, Jarrod Molnar and Lachie Bertram all had great moments.

But how the clash at HBF Arena in Joondalup got to overtime at all will remain a sore point in Joondalup for the entire off-season.

Chadinha had been forced into the game’s most crucial moment because both of Joondalup’s imports and their captain had already fouled out of the contest.

The Wolves had burst out of the blocks to a 15-point quarter time lead and it wasn’t until midway through the fourth quarter that Mandurah, for the first time, held a fleeting lead.

That lead was never more than two points as the teams went basket for basket, turnover for turnover and free throw for free throw down the stretch.

Murray had done the bulk of the quarter’s scoring for his side but their destiny looked in danger when he was forced from the court under the blood rule with just 69 seconds remaining in regulation.

It’s hard to imagine a situation where they could have needed their scoring dynamo more — up by a single point and with ball in hand while their sideline staff looked feverishly for a replacement shirt for the league MVP.

He spent just 23 seconds sidelined but the Magic failed to get up a shot in that time.

Murray checked back in wearing the unfamiliar No.25 shirt, watched Wolves star CJ Turnage spin through the keyway to give his team the lead and then missed his next jump shot.

But Mandurah’s other big star, Michael Durr, fought for the rebound and as players scrapped for a loose ball, Murray was fouled and sent to the free throw line.

It seemed a terrible time to miss his first from the stripe, but his second tied scores at 80 and ensured overtime — where momentum shifted as first Turnage and then Wolves captain Jordan Wellstead joined their already fouled-out import Jacob Wylie on the bench.

That gave Murray every opportunity to work his Magic and he scored seven of Mandurah’s 11 overtime points — including those final three free throws — to clinch a remarkable win.

Murray, the megastar MVP of this season’s NBL1 West competition, will have a chance to etch his name into grand final folklore on Saturday when the Magic meet Willetton Tigers in the championship decider.

It will cap what has already been an extraordinary season for the Magic, who last year won just two games and finished dead last on the table.

But the off-season recruitment of American Murray and his giant running mate Durr has spurred an incredible rise in 2024 that could culminate in something very special this Saturday.

The Magic men have never even been to the grand final of the NBL1 West or its predecessor the SBL, much less won a title.