KEY POINTS:
Wellington Saints sharpshooter Troy McLean steered his side to an 86-76 victory over Otago Nuggets in yesterday's National Basketball League.
The former Tall Black guard bagged 20 points as Wellington continued a mini-revival after beating Canterbury 85-77 on Friday.
In Dunedin, Saints controlled the game from the start, running up a 10-point lead by the end of the opening quarter and extending it to 49-32 at halftime.
The home side crept back into contention over the second half with American Justin Bailey pouring on 13 points during the third period, but could not complete the comeback.
Saints improved to three-wins, two-losses and will now host the Nuggets, 1-2 on Friday.
In the weekend's other NBL games Nelson Giants reversed a 12-point deficit at the end of the first quarter to beat Waikato 79-75.
Forward Josh Pace starred for the Giants in Hamilton scoring a game-high 25 points which keeps the perennial semifinalists around the top-four at 3-2.
Nelson still trailed at halftime 36-41, but unleashed 16 unanswered points to sweep into the lead midway through the final session to seal the win.
On Friday, early season surprise package Taranaki maintained their solid start downing reigning champions Hawkes Bay 85-83.
Taranaki, 3-2, had Garry Hill-Thomas firing on all cylinders as the guard scored 36 points.
Like Nelson, Taranaki found themselves behind for most of the match, but stayed in touching distance to consign the Hawks to their second loss from three games.
In Thursday's game, competition leaders Auckland comfortably dealt to Nelson 83-74.
- NZPA
