For the second night on end, a National Basketball League (NBL) semifinal went right to the wire as Waikato Pistons downed Christchurch Cougars 96-89 in Te Awamutu tonight.
Following on from Nelson Giants' last-gasp 83-82 win over Wellington Saints last night, it took a some cool heads from the Pistons in a frantic last quarter to secure the win.
The scores tied 26-26 at the end of the first spell, but while Waikato threatened to run away in the second quarter the Cougars refused to lie down and hauled them back every time.
Ahead by just two at halftime 50-48, the Pistons showed their class to take the third quarter 28-18 and looked set to cruise to victory.
But despite leading 78-66 at the three-quarter mark, they had to deal with a stirring comeback as the Cougars closed to within two with just on five minutes remaining.
Christchurch had secured their semifinal spot with an upset 106-98 overtime quarterfinal victory against North Harbour on Wednesday, when Paora Winitana bagged a game-high 38.
Winitana was again in dominant form tonight, running a slick Christchurch offence that refused to take a step backwards and matched Waikato basket for basket.
Centre Tim Behrendorff, who sunk 20 points against North Harbour, stepped up an extra notch tonight, effective from the three-point line as well as inside as he picked up 18 first half points in an overall total of 25.
Pistons point guard Michael Fitchett was also outstanding from the three-point line, totalling 24 for the game, while teammate Justin Bailey was unstoppable, forcing turnovers, stealing possession and working the ball quickly downcourt.
Fitchett also did a good job restricting Cougars maestro Paul Henare to just 17 points for the match. Another outstanding all-round effort came from the Pistons' Thomas Abercrombie, who backed up his 23 points for the night with seven rebounds and some impressive shot-blocking.
Waikato now head into the best-of-three finals series against Nelson next week.
