As the game ticked inside the final 30 seconds with hosts Orange High leading by four points, it looked as if Bathurst's overall lead in the Astley Cup tie would be reduced.

But a vital defensive rebound from Max Campbell - who was strong on the boards all match - gave Bathurst one last chance.

The ball found its way to Kalsi and he nailed the pressure three-pointer that locked the game. In Astley Cup there is no over-time permitted in basketball.

"It was edge of your seat stuff," Bathurst High basketball coach Sarah Murray said.

"It was crazy like the amount of kids that came running off the grand stand to go and jump on him on the court was wild. It was so good though.

"The spirit is obviously alive and it's nice to see the kids getting around each other."

Bathurst High headed into the second day of its tie with Orange holding a a 231 to 169 lead.

It was an advantage built on the back of Bathurst's strong performances on the soccer field, the girls side posting a 2-0 win while the boys were commanding 4-1 victors.

That earned Bathurst points injections of 75 and 80 respectively, with a total of 100 points on offer for each sport contested.

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In order to be declared victors of the fist tie, Bathurst has to reach a minimum mark of 401 points.

That mission began on Friday morning with the boys basketball and Bathurst made a good start, leading 12-7 at the end of the opening quarter.

Early in the second quarter Bathurst's shots just wouldn't drop and while working hard to secure defensive rebounds down the other end of the court, Orange inched within a shot at 12-10.

Bathurst called a time-out to reassess, but their offensive struggles continued. The managed just one basket for the quarter which meant at half-time the game was on level terms at 14-all.

The game remained tight from that point onwards and with a tick over four minutes left on the clock, it was locked up at 26-all.

Orange was the next the score and while then missing two shots from the free throw stripe with 31 seconds remaining, won the ball back and sunk another basket.

That gave the hosts a four-point buffer and the win looked to be theirs, but there was more drama to play out.

Bathurst clawed back one point from the free throw stripe then after Campbell pulled down a defensive rebound in the dying seconds and found Kalsi, he ran away to score the clutch three-pointer.

It forced a 30-all draw, an even spilt of the Astley points on offer and kept Bathurst in the overall lead at 281-219.

"My team were telling me to call a time out out but I was like 'No, no, we're sweet, we've got this'," Murray said.

"We talked about offensively passing the ball and trying to create space for ourselves and I think when we were settled we were making really good decisions to be able to get those shots off.

"The whole game there were only a couple of points in it. I think they were up most of the game so we were always coming from behind, but in Astley Cup a close game, win, lose or draw, is still good for Astley Cup points.

"In Astley Cup we only play the 40 minutes in basketball and if it's a draw you juts have a 50-50 split of the points, so it's a good outcome for us.

"Fingers crossed we can keep it rolling."

The netball, rugby league and hockey clashes remain.

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