Gilbert boys basketball coach Jay Caserio thought he saw daylight Tuesday night  in his team's struggle to protect leads and win a few more close games. A seven-point lead with 2:55 to play in regulation was Caserio's reason for optimism.

Well, that lead vanished as time ran out in regulation, but his Tigers executed enough in overtime to pull out a 62-56 victory over Mesa High in a Division I game at Jackrabbit Gym.

"We've come close a few times closing games out and I thought we might be over the hump up eight," Caserio said of a 48-40 edge with 4:29 to play. "We did better tonight. We won. We're not quite there yet, but we made progress."

Gilbert (9-5, 5-1 power-ranking games) got clutch scoring in the fourth period and overtime from Chris Bowling and reserve Byron Hurd. They also got a handful of rebounds from 6-8 senior post Truman Moore (10 poiints), who twice got the ball back for his team in overtime after teammates missed the front end of one-and-ones. Bowling finished with a game-high 20 points -- 16 in the second half. Hurd scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3s that left with with three treys for the game.

Bowling, a 6-foot-7 junior, made the biggest shot of the night, swishing a 3 with 39 seconds left in overtime to put Gilbert ahead to stay, 55-53. Mesa had taken its final lead of the night at 53-52 on Drew Hatch's third trey of game with 1:58 left. Mesa (14-2, 7-1 prg) had a chance to extend its lead to three with 1:04 left in OT, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. It wasn't unitl Bowling sank two free throws and Moore one in the final 10 seconds that Gilbert was home free.

"Chris made some big shots and we rebounded well," Caserio said. "We needed to. We had a size advantage, and looked to take advantage of that."

Gilbert did just that as they fed Moore in the post for seven first-quarter points and nine overall in the first half. Gilbert led at hafltime 27-25, but Mesa managed to rally and lead 40-36 after three periods. That was courtesy of eight points from its big man -- Darius Goudeau and 6-of-6 free-throw shooting by the Jackrabbits in the quarter.

Mesa coach Shane Burcar, who saw his team drop its first game of the season on its home floor, was disappointed with his team's execution in overtime. .

"You have to make free throws and get the rebounds when they miss," Burcar said. "We did make some big shots to get back in it, but we had the opportunity to win this one. We got a good shot off at the end of regulation., too. We had chances."

Mesa was led in scoring by David Cummard with 14 points, 12 in the first half. Kale Abbott added 12 and Goudeau chipped in with 10. Mesa made 10 3s in the game -- five in the first half and five in the second half and overtime.