Saints, Hawks in final

At halftime of their NBL semifinal in Porirua on Thursday night, the Saints were officially rattled. Then up stepped athletic import Kerwin Roach Jr and quality Kiwi big man Tohi Smith-Milner to restore some normality to proceedings.

In the end the Saints marched imperiously into their 20th NBL Grand Final courtesy of a runaway 99-73 victory over the undermanned Auckland Huskies. They will meet the Hawke’s Bay Hawks in the deciding game after Hawks flew home in the second semifinal against the Southland Sharks 98-91 on the back of a gamewinning 33-point offensive outburst from import Devondrick Walker.

■ For coverage of the final last night, go to stuff. co.nz

Dom Kelman-Poto (Sharks, right) tries to shoot past Jordan Hunt (Hawks).