Melsahn Basabe’s team trailed by 10 points near the end of the first half on Sunday in North Liberty.

But his team, Jill Armstrong of Skogman Realty surged back and defeated Pelling/McCurry’s, 106-98, in a Prime Time League basketball matchup.

It was a tough battle between the teams — they both held the lead for significant amounts of time at different points.

Pelling, coached by Kevin Lehman, took the lead early on in the game and stayed in control with a 10-point lead, 47-37, with a little over a minute left in the first half.

Hawkeye Devyn Marble led Lehman’s team on the court, hitting 4-of-7 3-point attempts for the night.

"I just got into a rhythm today; I was able to play the whole game, so that helped," he said. "We were able to get off to a good start to get the good lead."

Fellow Hawkeye Gabe Olaseni added 9 points. He said the team worked on "running the floor, rebounding, and playing with energy."

The Lehman team’s lead didn’t last long, however. By the middle of the second half, Armstrong, coached by Dan Ahrens, had a 10-point lead of its own.

Marble said Ahren’s team started to pull ahead as soon as his squad started losing balls and missing rebounds.

Ahren’s team was down by 11 a few minutes into the second half but fought back to stay within 1 just six minutes later.

A hearty 11:13 was left in the game when Armstrong took the lead, which it hung on to until the last buzzer.

Forward Basabe had the third-highest score of the game, knocking down 29 points. He has been conditioning and working hard in the off-season.

"I base everything on conditioning," he said. "I do a lot of ball handling — it helps on your touch."

Basabe’s conditioning and ball handling paid off. In addition to his 29 points, he put up a double-double with 14 rebounds, in addition to 3 assists.

Alongside Basabe, former Hawkeye Jarryd Cole helped pave the way to victory with 31 points.

Basabe said playing with Cole helped him when the pair played for Hawkeyes together in 2010-11, and it continues to help him now. The two netted 60 points together.

Hawkeyes Mike Gesell and Kyle Meyer also contributed to the Armstrong victory. Gesell had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists, and Meyer tallied 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist.

"I just give 100 percent," Basabe said. "You get out what you put in, and I’ve just been putting in a lot of effort, and today I got good results."