Final four fight for right to stay home

AAP BASKETBALL THE top four contenders for the NBL championship have been determined but the fight for home-court advantage in the play-offs is set to go down to the wire.

The New Zealand Breakers will join Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in the post-season after scoring back-to-back wins for the round, ending the playoff hopes for the Illawarra Hawks and Cairns Taipans in the process.

But the biggest talking point came on Friday night as one of the league’s fiercest rivalries produced another explosive chapter when Perth and Adelaide players were involved in a melee in the dying stages of the Wildcats’ 111-90 win.

The NBL announced a list of charges yesterday stemming from the incident, with Adelaide’s Brendan Teys and Perth’s Dexter Kernich-Drew suspended for two games for unduly rough play and no possibility of a reduced ban with an early plea. Ten players were fined $500 each.

While there was no repeat of Friday’s stoush in the return bout, the 36ers extracted some revenge with a dominant 94-82 win to put them into third spot on the ladder.

Perth coach Trevor Gleeson expected the ill-feeling would not flow over into Sunday’s rematch in Adelaide.

Illawarra needed to defeat New Zealand twice over three days in order to stay in the playoff race but lost both, putting the Breakers in second place on the ladder. Melbourne remain in the box seat to earn home-court advantage after moving two wins clear of the pack following a scrappy 69-61 victory against the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday afternoon.

The Sydney Kings meanwhile continued their late-season revival with a 93-86 road win against Cairns Taipans on Saturday night, with Jerome Randle scoring 24 points.