Soccer: Home semifinal in bag for Auckland

The National Basketball League playoff teams were all but settled at the weekend, with only Canterbury able to sneak in but needing to win all five remaining games.

They would also need to beat fourth-placed Wellington by nine points or more and the Saints would have to lose their other remaining game against Waikato.

So it looks like first-placed Auckland, with 28 points and two home games to play, have guaranteed themselves one of the home semifinals.

On 22 points are Hawkes Bay, who are 11-3 and with two home games and two in Auckland against the Stars and Heat to come, and Nelson, 11-4 with one home game left and two away.

Wellington are in fourth place with 20 points from 10 wins and six losses. They host Waikato and then Canterbury in their last games.

Auckland won without Lindsay Tait for the second time when they thumped Saints 76-64 on Friday night. They were also without American shooting guard Brock Gillespie, who was sick.

Tait's replacement at point guard, Judd Flavell, again stepped up and was second-best scorer with 17. Stars captain Casey Frank led the way with 23 and 10 rebounds. Frank's form should earn him the one allowable spot for an expat in the Tall Blacks at the World Championships.

The Stars and Saints both struggled for form early on and the shooting averages at half-time hovered around 30 per cent with the score just 26-23.

Only 13 points were scored in the second quarter, nine to Auckland and Wellington's four coming from the free-throw line.

That equalled the lowest score in one quarter in the NBL, last achieved by Waikato.

Hawkes Bay beat the Harbour Heat 90-83 on Friday but the Heat bounced back with a last-second 77-76 win over the Jets in Palmerston North on Saturday.

Import Jamal Kendrick hit a three-shot to beat the buzzer and both he and Troy McLean scored 15.

Stacey Lambert shot 18 and Aaron Nowell 14 for the Jets.

Nelson beat Taranaki 92-71, import Josh Pace top-scoring with 29 and Tall Black Phill Jones shooting 25.

The Giants led 20-7 after the first quarter and killed the Airs with a 24-14 third quarter.

Canterbury won 92-85 in Otago and must beat Nelson (home Wednesday), Hawks (away Friday), the Jets (away Saturday), Taranaki (away June 23) and Wellington (away June 24) to equal the Saints' current 20 points.