Hunter scored 35 points and made 12 rebounds and had the Bulls two big men Jonas Slapikas and Alexander Higgins-Titsha both fouled out trying to counter his influence.

In the women's competition, Mikaela Dombkins managed to eclipse Hunter's outstanding statistics scoring 35 points, pulling in 22 rebounds and having five assists to lead the Mustangs to an 84-69 win against the Bulls.

It was the Mustangs women's third win of the NBL1 East Women's season and Dombkins received support from Mila Wawszkowicz (12 points, seven rebounds) and Hanna Griffin (12 points, four rebounds).

Maitland men's win lifts them into the top NBL1 East Men's top six, with a seven win, six loss record and just behind the fifth placed Bulls who are now seven and five.

Mustangs coach Luke Boyle said Hunter and Jack Edwards were Maitland's best in the first three quarters until the rest of the side warmed to the task and stormed home to take the game into overtime and then clinch a valuable six-point win.

"It was a pretty remarkable comeback. We knew we had to change gear, we played in first gear until the third quarter. We caught fire at the right time," Boyle said.

"I think Jack (Edwards) and Jimmy (Hunter) were our most consistent from an effort point of view from the minutes that they were on the court for.

"Jimmy had a stellar game. He just monstered them.

"We knew that was always going to be their liability. He did his part by getting 35 points and 12 rebounds and fouled out both their big guys as well.

"He was aggressive all night. We've just got be better in the future with everyone else joining in as well."

Matt Gray finished strongly scoring 20 points and making seven rebounds, while the other starting five members Daniel Milburn (14), Will Cranston-Lown (10) and Sharif Watson (10) all reached double figures in scoring.

"Matty has been great for the last few weeks. In the overtime and the end of the fourth he was great. He knew he needed to change gears and made the adjustment," Boyle said.

But Gray wasn't the only one caught in what Boyle described as "slow motion" at times

"We felt at times we were playing in slow motion, not our usual aggressive selves. But once those boys turn it on they can hoop. We've just got to make sure we do it from the start rather than the end," he said.

"We've now split with them and have a higher point score as well. The goal now is anyone we've been beaten by we've got to beat them by more than what they got us by.

"We moved up to the top six now and we have a double header on the weekend. If we pick up wins on Saturday and Sunday it should lift us up another ranking or two."

The Mustangs men have a double header this weekend starting with the ninth-placed Central Coast Crusaders (five wins, eight losses) on Saturday night (7pm) and the third-placed Illawarra Hawks (eight wins, five losses) on Sunday afternoon (3pm).

The Mustangs women also host the Crusaders (5pm, Saturday) and Hawks (1pm, Sunday).