Basketball: Hawks into final after upset

Photo / Getty Images

Hawks 95
Pistons 86

The Hawke's Bay Hawks are into the final of the National Basketball League after upsetting the Waikato Pistons 95-86 in their semifinal in Wellington tonight.

The Hawks reached their fourth final after a superb team effort to down the Pistons, who went into the match on the back of 11 straight wins, and will face either the Wellington Saints or the Nelson Giants in Sunday's decider.

Six Hawks players got into double figures as they overcame a four-point first quarter deficit to turn over the team that finished second in the regular season.

Paora Winitana and Josh Pace showed the way for Hawke's Bay with 18 points each, Galen Young had 17 and their were also handy contributions from Jarrod Kenny (12) and Chris Daniel and Arthur Trousdell who both had 11 points.

The Pistons, who lost the finals series to Wellington last year, were led by Hayden Allen's 23 points, while Tom Abercrombie tasted defeat for the first time this season with Waikato despite his 17-point effort.

A contender for the league's most valuable player title, centre Alex Pledger, had 15 points and nine rebounds.

- NZPA