KEY POINTS:
Harbour Heat were among the victims over a weekend of upsets in the National Basketball League.
The Heat were downed by lowly Manawatu Jets, who notched just their fourth victory of the season.
That upset was nothing, however, to the two that befell Waikato Pistons, who lost to the Canterbury Rams and Taranaki in the space of 24 hours.
It was an awful weekend for the Pistons (12-4), who went into their double-header with the prospect of sealing a first-place finish but ended it having opened the door for Wellington Saints (10-4) to overtake them during the run in to the playoffs.
The Heat (9-6) would have had designs on pressuring Wellington for second place but their eight-man roster was badly exposed by a Manawatu (4-10) team led by outstanding American point guard Kantrail Horton and countryman Keith Davis. Horton has been among the league's stats leaders all season for the Jets but his efforts have seldom been to much avail.
That looked likely to be the case yesterday when he and Davis fouled out with just over two minutes left and the Heat charging to close what had been a 17-point deficit to just six.
But the young Jets' bench held out, with Dan Peck nailing a vital three in the closing stages to douse the Heat.
Without import Oscar Foreman and veteran Darryl Cartwright the Heat always appeared vulnerable.
Hayden Allen had an off night with his outside shooting and, with Foreman missing, the Heat were comprehensively outshot from long range.
Centre Tim Behrendorff was effective from mid-range but wasn't able to dominate in the paint despite the Jets lacking much of a counter.
The defeat means the Heat will now be nervously looking over their shoulders at Hawkes Bay (8-5) and Nelson (8-6).
Auckland Stars kept their playoff aspirations intact with a 90-81 victory over the Jets on Saturday night.
But the Stars (7-6), currently in the sixth and final playoff spot, failed to put any distance between themselves and Taranaki (7-6), thanks to Taranaki's shock 99-95 overtime win over the Pistons. Having trailed by nine at three-quarter time, the Pistons locked the game up to send it to overtime but failed to complete the comeback.
On Saturday the Pistons were the victims of the biggest upset of the season, going down 102-97 to the Rams (4-11) at home in Hamilton. The Rams were led by bench forward Dave Langrell, whose 30 points included six of eight from beyond the arc.
Elsewhere the Otago Nuggets (2-13) firmed as wooden spoon favourites after a seventh straight loss, this time to Hawkes Bay. Taranaki completed the first leg of their double-header sweep with a victory over Canterbury on Friday.
