WEST Adelaide dug deep and pulled off an impressive win against one of the competition’s top sides when it edged Sturt at home on Tuesday.

The Bearcats had teased through the early rounds of the season – impressing in patches but only managing one win – and looked like they might again come up short when the Sabres hit the lead early in the fourth.

But nine fourth-quarter points from import Dee Oldham, crucial free throws, and clutch three-pointers from Lucas Valk and Tristan Braithwaite ensured West equalled its ledge at 2-2 after four rounds.

The contest was close all afternoon with Sturt’s biggest lead five points and the Bearcats’ biggest advantage of nine points coming in late the final stanza.

Isaac White (29 points and seven rebounds) and Hamish Burns (17 points) did all they could to lift Sturt.

But West battled hard, led by 47 points from its import duo of Oldham and Harold Ridgeway.

Oldham finished with 24 points after scoring nine in the last, while Ridgeway scored 23 at 71 per cent from the field.

Both gathered nine rebounds and along with Blake Truslove (12 boards) helped West to a plus-14 advantage in rebounds.

The result left the Bearcats and Sabres narrowly outside of the top-five behind Norwood.

West faces a big test again on Saturday when it travels to play the Southern Tigers.

Sturt is away to Eastern Mavericks.