He dished off a baseline pass to Eric Smith for a resounding dunk. He hit an 18-foot jumper. He kicked the ball out of the post for a DeWitt Scott three-pointer. He took an alley-oop pass from Walker Russell for a dunk. He drove baseline for a layup. He took an in-bounds pass from Russell, off a Ron Howard screen, and turned it into a three-point play.

Finally, with the Mad Ants holding a 90-88 lead and 20 seconds left, he went up and blocked Erik Daniels' point-blank shot.

"Coleman was great at the end," coach Jaren Jackson said. "We've been waiting for him to show that kind of ability."

Collins had one more big play: He passed the credit in the locker room.

Collins pointed to a third-quarter stretch, where the Ants cut a 15-point deficit to two points, when he and fellow starter Chris Hunter took a seat and were replaced by Toree Morris and Sean Sonderleiter.

"Those post players came off the bench and gave us a lift," Collins said. "The credit goes to those two."

The Ants (1-0) return to the coliseum to play the Sioux Falls Skyforce at 6 p.m. Sunday, and have three more home games next week.

The Ants' season-opening win -- in front of an announced crowd of 5,385, including D-League Commissioner Dan Reed -- wasn't pretty. There were forced shots, hurried shots and just plain bad shots. There were more turnovers (24) than assists (21). They couldn't slow Erie guard Oliver Lafayette (31 points), who did not play when Fort Wayne beat Erie by 19 in an exhibition game last week.

There were times, particularly as the Ants fell behind, when it was obvious they have played together less than two weeks.

"We had some opening-game jitters," point guard Russell said.

Yet there was a display of resilience, too, and Collins wasn't alone in delivering big plays.

Russell, who played most of the season with Fort Wayne last year, provided a calming influence, particularly at crunch time. He scored 14 points with nine assists. He had consecutive assists at the end of an 11-0 run that cut Erie's lead to 57-53.

Russell threw the beautiful alley-oop to Collins that brought the crowd to life.

"Down the stretch you have to have a guy who can lead the team and not turn the ball over," Jackson said. "Walker did that."

Howard, the team's leading scorer with 19 points, made perhaps his best play on the screen that freed Collins for his fourth-quarter three-point play that stretched the lead to 90-85. Collins called it the oldest play in the book.

"When you get a guard setting a screen like that, it's like a wide receiver throwing a block downfield," Collins said. "(Howard) knows if he sets the screen and I don't get the ball, then he'll get it on the wing. Next time, he might get his shot there."

All 10 Mad Ants players scored, with Collins joining Howard and Russell in double figures with 15 points. Every player had at least six points.

"This shows we can be a really deep team," Collins said.

There's Collins, including others again. When the player of the game talks in those terms, it's an unqualified great start.

To see more of The News-Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.FortWayne.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.