KEY POINTS:
The Auckland Stars had no answer to the three-point shooting of the defending champion Bay Hawks as they slumped to a 102-79 defeat in Napier last night.
Reigning league MVP Paora Winitana was in supreme form, consistently making the open long-range shots allowed by a Stars defence that failed to match the home side's intensity.
Winitana underlined his status as the league's premier three-point shooter with 24 points, 15 from beyond the arc.
Hawks point guard Paul Henare also landed some telling shots from distance in a match that was never close beyond the first quarter.
Stars coach Kenny Stone will have plenty of head scratching to do ahead of Monday night's clash with the table-topping Harbour Heat after replacement imports Corey Hallett and Brandon Cole failed to add any real substance to the efforts of cornerstones Dillon Boucher, Lindsay Tait and Casey Frank.
The Stars started well enough, easing to a 13-7 lead. But the Hawks quickly stepped up their effort to choke the life out of the stuttering Stars offence and draw level at 17-17 at quarter time.
With Frank and Charlie Piho both in early foul trouble, Winitana landed back-to-back threes as the Hawks strung together a 14-point run to all but kill off the Stars by halftime.
Mid-season recruit Valence McCarthy was the lone bright spot in a Stars offence that shot just 40 per cent from the field.
The victory gives the Hawks (11-4) the inside running for a home semifinal, while the play-off aspirations of the out-of-sorts Stars (10-5) now appear well and truly in the balance.
