Saints March Into Finals
Tagged in: Competitions, NBL
The Century City Wellington Saints remained undefeated at home on Thursday night in the Dominion Finance NBL semifinals.
But got everything they could handle from the CPS Nelson Gaints.
Behind 21 points from point guard Luke Martin, the regular season champion Saints advanced to the best-of-three NBL Finals series next week and improved to 10-0 in the Capital with an 86-73 win at the TSB Bank Arena.
Five Saints – Martin, Ernest Scott, Nick Horvath, Arthur Trousdell and Brendon Polyblank - scored in double figures as they edged away from the gutsy defending champs in the final period.
A 14-2 run, punctuated by back-to-back triples from American forward Scott, who finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and six steals, mid way through the fourth gave the Saints a 77-63 lead with 1:30 remaining.
Martin, who started ahead of Tall Black Lindsay Tait at the point, shot 8-of-13 from the field and added four assists, while Horvath posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, with Trousdell scoring a cameo 11 points, along with Polyblank.
The Saints move on to the best-of-three NBL Finals series, starting next Tuesday, against either the Waikato Pistons or Youthtown Auckland Stars, who meet in the second semifinal in Te Awamutu on Friday night.
Giants American centre Michael Harrison scored an equal game-high 21 points, pulling down 11 boards and dropping five assists, while lynchpin Phill Jones had 17 points but was held in check by Polyblank’s defence and import forward Jamil Terrell posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 boards.
Wellington were able to get out to a six-point lead midway through the third period but an emphatic Harrison put-back dunk with 2:02 remaining to level the scores at 54-54, but Tait scored the next five points to send the Saints into the final period with a five-point buffer.
Even with Jones resting and Michael Fitchett on the bench with three fouls early in the second quarter, the Giants collapsing defence gave the Saints fits, as Nelson put on a 10-2 run, with sixth-man Christopher Reay scoring six straight points, to lead 35-26.
With Terrell and Harrison leading the way, Nelson dominated Wellington – the League’s best rebounding team – on the boards 27-12, including 14 offensive boards leading to a 13-0 second chance points count.
The Saints shot almost 60 percent from the floor in the first half to Nelson’s 41 percent but settled for the bulk of their shots on jump shots.
Harrison had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds by halftime while Trousdell was a revelation for the Saints, dropping five of his six shots for 11 points.
In a cold-shooting quarter for both teams in the third they combined to go 4-of-13 from the field and just 12 points after seven minutes.
The teams traded baskets in the first period, which featured 10 lead changes and three ties as the Giants started out shooting hot but could not keep it going as their dream of back-to-back championships faded out.
Dominion Finance NBL Playoffs
Semifinal (1st vs 5th)
At TSB Bank Arena, Wellington
Century City Wellington Saints 86 (Luke Martin 21, Ernest Scott 18, Nick Horvath 16, Arthur Trousdell 11, Brendon Polyblank 11) CPS Nelson Giants 75 (Michael Harrison 21, Phill Jones 17, Jamil Terrell 14)
1Q: 22-25
HT: 45-45 (23-20)
3Q: 59-54 (14-9)
FT: 86-75 (27-21)
Saints vs Giants Box Score (21KB html)
