KEY POINTS:
Wellington beat leaders North Harbour 86-69 yesterday to keep their playoff chances in the National Basketball League alive.
With a month to go in the round-robin competition, the race for playoff spots has turned serious.
"We needed to beat a high-calibre team like this," Saints coach Kevin Brooks said. "And we beat them the right way."
The other five teams with realistic semifinal aspirations also needed the result, which suggested the talent-laden Wellington outfit may have finally discovered their potential.
Trailing for just a few seconds of the opening quarter, they did what they have so often failed to do, closing out the game with 11 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Imports Bakari Hendrix and Nick Horvath easily won the scoring battle against Harbour's Tim Behrendorff and Oscar Forman, while veteran guards Terrence Lewis and Troy McLean produced possibly their best performances of the rollercoaster season.
Hendrix chose an ideal occasion to dominate, scoring 21 points and 17 rebounds in front of New Zealand Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis - mulling his foreign quota for next summer.
An assistant coach with the Adelaide 36ers, Brooks said Hendrix was an ANBL-calibre player and there were a few teams looking at him.
- NZPA
