Wheeler was Ryder's trusty foil throughout the onslaught, also reaching a career-best with an unbeaten 80 from 77 balls, and hitting the winning runs with three balls and two wickets remaining.
Canterbury will be ruing not giving Latham more support, with nobody else managing to pass 33 in an innings which required some big hitting around Latham's anchoring knock.
Central now have hosting rights for the final, but who they will play is yet to be determined, with top qualifiers Canterbury getting a second chance against Otago, after they swept aside Auckland in the minor semifinal.
Auckland - 10 time winners of the competition - were never in the contest against an Otago team which has started to get excellent contributions from their classy top order.
After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Otago continued their recent run-scoring barrage, making an intimidating 312-7 on the Queen's Park wicket.
Neil Broom was the star, setting the Otago record for most runs in a one-day season during his superb 109. He shared a 158-run partnership for the second wicket with Michael Bracewell (69), at the same time keeping the run-rate over five an over to allow acceleration later in the innings.
That acceleration came from Jimmy Neesham, who found some much-needed form with a 54-ball 59 to set Auckland a challenging chase.
It was a chase which proved too difficult for the young Auckland batting lineup, as promising Otago seamer Jacob Duffy snared three wickets in his first four overs.
When Colin de Grandhomme departed an over later, Auckland were 45-4 and faced a steep climb back into contention; a climb that proved insurmountable as regular wickets fell.
Eventually, their slow demise was curtailed by the rain with 16 overs left in their innings, falling to a 125-run defeat via the Duckworth-Lewis system.
Otago have now won five straight games, and will play Canterbury on Wednesday to determine who will be facing Central in Saturday's final.
