By Murray McKinnon
With the clock running down, Joe Wyatt scored the goal that mattered and earned Nelson Giants a last-gasp 90-88 victory to end Auckland's season-long unbeaten run in the National Basketball League.
Ahead 18-4 early in Saturday night's clash in Nelson, Rebel Sport Auckland appeared on course for their eighth
straight win, but Wyatt, Peter Pokai and Judd Flavell had other ideas.
The home side stepped up their defensive effort - and scoring - to get within one at 49-50 at the break.
Nelson, with Pokai dominant, took a six-point lead in the final quarter, but Scott Benson and Simon Mesritz led the Auckland fightback to level at 86-86 with three minutes to play.
Possession was the key factor as the clock counted down, with defending champions Nelson having the ball at the right time as they got up to win for the fifth time this season.
At the North Harbour Events Centre, the home side overcame the introduction of new head coach Tracey Carpenter and the loss of Kirk Penney to an American scholarship in style with a 92-76 win over Otago.
"Great defence," was Carpenter's simple summing up of his team's effort.
By halftime Otago were down 36-49, and had no chance to fight back against a rock solid Kings defence who kept the visitors to the outside perimeter.
Chris Ensminger was the star for the Kings, taking the defensive and offensive rebounds and topping the scoring with 25. Johnny Dadzie had to leave the court with a strained ankle three minutes from the end but was dynamic for the home side, also scoring 25 points.
Phill Jones was well contained by Harbour, regularly running into foul trouble, but he still was the best for Otago with 19.
Wellington demolished Taranaki 135-111, helped by guard Terrance Lewis, who established a league scoring record of 55, beating Waikato's Geoff Herman's three-year-old record by two. Wellington led 63-50 at halftime.
