Basketball: Ball in Stars and Hawks' court for showdown

All attention in the National League now focuses on the top-two face-off between Auckland and Hawkes Bay at Taradale on Friday.

The Stars and Hawks widened the gap on the chasers with victories at the weekend, the Hawks now on nine wins and one loss and Auckland's record 11-1.

Wellington and Nelson, who fought out one of the toughest games of the season so far on Wednesday with Saints winning 83-80, both lost one on the road on Friday night then won on Saturday. Those two and Manawatu are the teams that will fight out the third and fourth playoff spots.

The effort award for the weekend would have to go to the Giants' Tall Black Phill Jones, who stepped off a plane from Italy on Wednesday and played that night, scoring eight points and taking six rebounds in 23 minutes in the loss in Wellington.

On Friday he played 11 minutes, scored two and took four rebounds as Nelson slumped 71-63 in Hawkes Bay; and on Saturday he played 24 minutes for six points and five rebounds in a 90-82 win over Manawatu.

The Hawks had handed Nelson their third consecutive defeat after they had fallen to Auckland then Wellington, Nelson relying on their Americans to score but the home side producing the better rebounding to win a scrappy game 71-63.

Josh Pace shot 22 and Eric Freeman 20 but the contribution from others was not wide enough, Jones collecting two technicals that sent him to the bench.

Jones was smoth-ered by defence in the game in Palmerston North, allowing import Josh Pace, 24, and local Michael Fitchett, 20, to accumulate points.

Nelson took a 28-16 lead after the first quarter and were not headed, the Jets resorting to a long-range attack but failing to get the three-pointers they needed.

Saints lost Tall Black forward Brendon Polyblank to injury early in their game against Canterbury in Christchurch on Saturday but another BP stepped up, TV presenter Brendon Pongia coming out of retirement and notching 19 points.

Terrence Lewis scored 17 and import Nick Horvath shot 26 points and took 11 rebounds, and the Saints were never headed after taking a double-digit lead after halftime.

The Stars beat a depleted Taranaki side 91-72 in New Plymouth. The Airs were without Tall Blacks centre Tony Rampton and import and NBL top-scorer Garry Hill-Thomas and couldn't match Auckland's depth. Their second American, Cody Toppert, top-scored for the game with 32.

Lindsay Tait again led the Stars' scoring with 23 and captain Casey Frank shot 19 and took 12 rebounds.

After dumping the higher-placed Giants, Wellington fancied their chances of pushing further up the table but then on Saturday they fell to lowly Otago 79-81. The Saints had an 11-point lead going into the last quarter but were out-scored 23-13 before Otago's Shaun Tilby delivered a last-second lay-up for the home team to earn a standing ovation.

Imports Branduinn Fullove, who top-scored with 30, and Brandon Morris collected 18 of those 25 last-quarter points.

* Tall Fern Donna Loffhagen's aim to be the first Kiwi in the WNBA was shot down at the weekend when she was one of the last two players cut by Connecticut Suns coach Mike Thibault prior to the season start. Loffhagen's time in netball had not helped her cause, Thibault implied, when he said "she just doesn't have the experience" of the others.

* Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin's Banvitspor team has beaten Turk Telekom and moves on to semis against Ulkerspor.