The Otago Nuggets have locked in a spot with a game to spare.
They posted a 92-79 win against the Hawke’s Bay Hawks in front of just under 1700 fans at the Edgar Centre tonight.
The 2022 champions have one round-robin match remaining. They will head north to play the Tauranga Whai on Wednesday.
Regardless of the outcome, they will finish the regular season in fifth and play the fourth-placed team in the quarterfinals.
That is looking like it will be the Wellington Saints. It will not be an easy assignment.
Craig Moller led the way for the Nuggets. He drained 23 points and collected 10 rebounds in consummate performance.
Alain Louis added 19 points and dished nine assists.
Chase Jeter and Alonzo Burton scored 18 apiece for the Hawks.
But the night belonged to Moller.
He had an early three-pointer discounted thanks to a foul off the ball by Ethan Rusbatch.
Moller missed his next two attempts as his side struggled to get the scoreboard ticking.
They trailed 11-0 before Buay Tuach opened the scoring for the home team with a bucket under the lid.
Moller stuck a triple shortly after, but it was a stuttering start by the home team and they went to the break down 20-17.
Tuach and Louis got in each other's way trying to scoop up some loose ball early in the second quarter and spent the next few seconds arguing who had got in whose way.
But when the Nuggets took the lead the squabble was quickly forgotten.
Tuach lobbed in a monster three that caught the Hawks’ defence off guard.
And Moller mopped up a missed foul shot from Louis to extend the lead.
Burton tossed in a three-pointer to arrest some of the Nuggets’ momentum.
A one-handed slam from Isaac Miller-Jose fired up the home crowd. They felt that one in the back row.
The Nuggets had eked out a 48-44 lead by halftime.
Jeter popped in a brace of baskets to level the score early in the third, but Moller landed another three-pointer to restore some of the margin.
Kobe Kara got to the rim for a couple of buckets for the Hawks.
With 10 minutes to play the Nuggets nursed a 67-65 lead.
They added seven unanswered points at the start of the fourth to get some breathing space.
They are nervous finishers, though. They have turned healthy leads into narrow defeats several times this season.
And as a couple of shots rattled loose from the net, the tension grew.
Louis landed a timely three-pointer with four minutes remaining.
Rusbatch found his range from the corner shortly after.
Then Matthew Bardsley got in the passing lane and poached the ball.
Game over, almost.
Time for a couple more corner threes.
