Basketball: Saints square series with dominant win

George Le'afa of the Saints looks to pass. Photo / Getty Images

Wellington Saints levelled the National Basketball League finals series against Waikato Pistons at one each with a dominant 98-69 win in Wellington laat night.

After a lack-lustre effort in Hamilton on Tuesday night, when the Pistons out-thought and out-played Wellington 80-74, the Saints attacked last night's game with deadly intent.

Relishing the home court advantage, Wellington looked a different team and it was the Pistons who struggled to find energy and accuracy.

Piston's point guard Rashad Tucker opened the scoring in regulation style before Wellington gave clear notice of their intention to play with three-pointers from Nick Horvath and Casey Franks.

With the Saints deadly from the three-point line, and with their fast-break game running at full speed, the Wellington team ended the first quarter 34-18 ahead.

In contrast, the Pistons struggled with Wellington's swarming defence, the pressure on the ball proving too much as they coughed up 12 turnovers throughout the game to Saints' seven.

Wellington's American import Eric Devendorf showed early on that his 13-point anonymity of the first game was over. Last night, running strongly at the Waikato defence, he managed 12 points by halftime and 24 for the match.

Tom Abercrombie, top scorer for the Pistons on Tuesday with 32 points, was kept well under wraps in the first half, managing just five after two quarters as the Saints dictated the game's tempo with ease.

Abercrombie was shut down by the Saints defence last night and ended the match with just 14 points.

The Saints were taking no chances and kept Waikato under the hammer in the third quarter, taking the spell 27-16 to go into the final stanza with an 85-52 lead.

A shell-shocked Waikato could make no inroads, as Saints finished clinically to secure the win, their accuracy from the three-point line pivotal as they converted 11 from 19 attempts to Waikato's three from 18.

Wellington go into tonight's decider with momentum, but the two-times defending champion Pistons team can come back, Ronaldson said.

"We can't get down on ourselves too much, we have to come back tomorrow night," he said.

- NZPA