The Jets had signalled it would be a different night than down in Christchurch as Iverson (29 points, 19 rebounds) started with some sweet three pointers to leave the Rams scrambling for an early time out when they were 10-4 down in the first quarter.
Although they redoubled their efforts through Shepard and Xaiver Thames (31 points, four rebounds) to tie the match 14-14, a series of fouls let the Jets keep ahead and then Iverson regathered a missed three for a rebound goal and Dashion Knight made a good steal to pull up for a three and 25-20 at quartertime.
There were three key components to the Jets win – their ability to convert turnovers into points (13 compared to the Rams' five), getting away on the fast break (17 points compared to eight) and the stunning individual performance of Knight (36 points, five rebounds).
While Iverson was magic at the beginning and end of the game, it was Knight who held everything together, especially when the Rams locked the Jets out of their key hole and they had to get very inventive with dashes in and passes out of the circle to free up someone for a long shot.
Brandon Lucas (15 points, seven rebounds) did his part to take the workload off Knight and Iverson.
The Rams began to find their footing as Shepard and Thames were calm and collected, while Julian Williams-Washburn (10 points, 10 rebounds) got frustrated as he made a hard check on Rangimarie Dougall-Mita to send him tumbling as they both raced back up court.
Picking up a double foul, Williams-Washburn was benched by Dickel until the third quarter to reduce the chance he would foul out at a crucial stage near the end of the game.
The Rams finally took the lead for the first time with 4m 42s left before halftime, but they would not keep it as the Jets persevered and Knight snatched a loose ball to sprint away for a layup goal right on the buzzer for 51-49.
But then the Rams showed why they are currently in the Top 4 as they upped their aggression and spoiled the Jets attack, with the home side only getting two buckets in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
Michael Karena (10 points, six rebounds) was brought on and muscled up against the Jets penetrations to the hoop, as they could find no way around him, and the Rams pounced to have a dominant 19-9 quarter and seemingly be set for a comfortable win at 68-60 heading into the last ten minutes.
But the Jets would not give up.
As coach Tim McTamney surmised afterwards, it's not that they played brilliant basketball or even a better quality than the Rams, it's just the Jets clawed back from every miss and every fumble to stay in the fight and eventually they were going shot-for-shot with the visitors again.
The long bombs they missed in the third quarter started going in the net, while the scramble for second chance rebound points was intense (Jets 19 points, Rams 12).
Knight, Lucas and then Knight again managed to scramble consecutive three pointers and a game that was looking gone at 72-64 was suddenly 77-all with 5m 40s left.
Despite some nicely worked passes and buckets by the Rams, the Jets would get their bombs off and made sure to land their foul shots, taking a time out with 1m 20s left and trailing 85-84.
Thames was calm and nailed his bucket with 44s left, but Knight was in another zone as swept right to the other end for a pressure three pointer with 21s remaining.
Knight looked to use every one of those seconds before feeding Shepard, who could not land the match-winner and then the desperate Jets batted the ball off Karena under their net as time ran out.
The Jets struck first in overtime as Iverson made a sweet pass to bench player Darryl Jones – who with four points and two rebounds was McTamney's "unsung hero" – and he nailed both his free throws after being fouled.
The Jets hung on to their two point lead until Thames took the Rams ahead with free throws for 93-91, and then they shut down the key hole as for the first time the Jets could not beat the shot clock, despite protesting that their last bounce pass came off a Rams defender's foot.
With 34s left, Thames looked for Karena but his pass was missed, and the Jets had a chance but Iverson missed his shot, forcing another rebound scramble.
Knight took a long shot that hit the rim and Iverson soared above the rest to just bat it in for what proved the winner.
McTamney could only express his pride for the team to have bounced back in seven days, despite having two front liners out while Oscar Oswald stayed on the bench with his injury.
"Down [in Christchurch] we didn't play ball, only travelled with nine guys," he said.
"You're kind of up against it, but everyone does their bit.
"We won it on the back of wanting it more."
Even after a horror third quarter the team did not stop believing, as McTamney said they had accepted those rough patches will happen this year.
"You play through those moments, stick together, and play together.
"We did the tough things."
The Wellington Saints, the 2017 defending champions and currently second on the table, will represent an even sterner challenge this Saturday, tipoff 7pm.
