Basketball: Saints double up to secure NBL title

Lindsay Tait of Wellington gets past the defence of Ben Hill of Hawke's Bay. Photo / Getty Images

Saints 106
Hawks 97

The Wellington Saints had livewire Lindsay Tait to thank as they swept past the Hawke's Bay Hawks 106-97 in Wellington to secure their second successive National Basketball League crown.

The 29-year-old point guard scored 28 points and had seven assists as the Saints, courtesy of a strong second quarter, had too many guns for the under-strength Hawks, to grab a second coaching title for Pero Cameron and a seventh NBL championship for the franchise.

The Hawks reached the final after upsetting the high-flying Waikato Pistons 95-86 in their semifinal on Friday night but had to do without guard Paora Winitana - who had 18 points in that match - in the final due to his Mormon faith preventing him from playing on Sundays.

Tait and fellow guard Corey Webster (22 points) proved a deadly duo that the Hawks' defence could not contain, while centre Galen Young his best to keep the Hawks in contention, but without the contribution of Winitana his 20 points was never going to be enough.

Tait missed only three of his 12 shots from the field and only once from the free throw line and apart from Webster, got help from the unsung Leon Henry who land four of his five three-point attempts for a haul of 19 points.

For Tait, who was on the Cairns Taipans side which lost the Australian NBL final series to the NZ Breakers in April, said a loss to Auckland in their final game of the regular season gave them the kick in the pants they needed.

"We got embarrassed up in Auckland, it hurt ... we came back here and worked our arses off and the last two games it showed,

"We haven't played to our potential for the whole regular season, but the last two games we stepped up and got the job done," Tait said.

The Saints had the better of a scrappy opening to build an eight-point lead with 90 seconds left in the first quarter, but they rallied late and guard Aidan Daly nailed a three-pointer as the clock wound down to go to the first interval level at 24-24.

But Tait, who got in early foul trouble in the first quarter and was benched which coincided with the Hawks' late burst of scoring, sparked the Saints into life with 11 points in the second quarter to see the hosts take a 53-41 halftime lead. They outscored the Hawks 29-17 in the what proved to be a decisive quarter.

The Saints, who qualified top of the table, dominated the boards to grab 22 rebounds in the frist half, while restricting last year's beaten semifinalists to just 12.

Josh Pace, who scored 30 points in that playoffs loss last season, had a quiet opening netting just six points in the first 20 minutes while the Saints, who went into the final with the league's leading field goal percentage, shot 61 per cent from the field in the first half while restricting the Hawks to 45 per cent.

Pace and fellow import Young stepped things up in the third quarter, but with Tait running the floor for the Saints and adding seven points and some big plays from Henry the hosts extended their lead to take a 79-64 lead heading in the final quarter.

Young endeavoured to get the Hawks back in contention with a strong performance down the stretch, but the Saints held firm to make it back to back victories.

Wellington Saints 106 (Lindsay Tait 28, Corey Webster 22, Leon Henry 19) Hawke's Bay Hawks 97 (Galen Young 20, Josh Pace 17, Aidan Daly 16, Chris Daniel 15) Halftime: 53-41.

- NZPA