The Waikato Pistons and Century City Wellington Saints got company at the top of the NBL on Sunday.
With 20 points from shooting guard Hayden Allen and 19 from centre Tim Behrendorff, the Harbour Heat completed a perfect home-and-away double-header in round 11 with a 96-81 win over the Manawatu Jets on Sunday.
The win at Arena Manawatu, on the back of their 75-64 home victory over the Nelson Giants (8-5) on Friday night, helped the Heat improve to 9-5, pulling level with the Saints on 18 points, four behind the League-leading Pistons.
Without Australian forward Oscar Forman for the second game, Harbour finally kicked clear of the Jets (3-8) in the fourth quarter.
Allen, who missed Friday's game with a stomach virus, manned up with 20 points, four assists and three steals, while Behrendorff, who has lifted his production over recent weeks, had 19 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Mika Vukona added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Daryl Cartwright had 14 points and point guard Jarrod Kenny 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
While the Heat dominated, Manawatu hung tough, pulling within two points early in the fourth period after trailing by 22 points with 2:51 left in the third.
Kaine Hokianga, who finished with a game-high 23 points, Americans Keith Davis and Kantrail Horton and Miles Pearce helped the hosts end the third on a 12-1 run to get within 11 points.
That was the first part of an overall 22-2 run straddling the third and fourth quarters that got Manawatu within a basket with 7:33 to play.
Harbour soon answered with a 19-6 run, started with back-to-back threes from Allen, over a four-minute span late in the fourth to put the game away.
Hokianga shot 7-of-12 three-pointers in his best performance this season, while Davis posted a double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds, also pilfering six steals, and Pearce returned to action with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Elsewhere in round 11, Waikato left it late in both games of their South Island double-header against the Basement Boys, the Canterbury Rams (3-10) and Otago Nuggets (2-12).
Point guard Jason Crowe scored Waikato's final eight points and had two steals in the last two minutes of their 83-77 win over the Rams in Christchurch on Friday night, then followed it the following night with 28 points in the 85-78 win over the Nuggets in Invercargill.
Like a cat playing with a mouse, the Pistons seemed to toy with their opponents before finishing them off.
They trailed most of the first period in Christchurch, fell behind by as many as 10 points in the third quarter and did not take the lead for good until 1:03, Crowe's two lay-ups and four free-throws securing the result.
At Stadium Southland, the upstart and under-manned Nuggets led for three quarters before Waikato took over in the fourth.
The Pistons became the first team to 10 wins, improving to 11-2 on the season and holding a full two-game lead over the second-placed Saints (9-4) with four rounds of the regular season remaining.
The Giants (8-5) and Bay Hawks (7-5) split their road double-headers, maintaining their places in the top-six.
Powered by a season-high 33 points from Tall Black shooting guard Phill Jones, the Giants out-shot the Auckland Stars 105-91 on Thursday night before losing the following night to the Heat.
The Hawks accounted for Dynamos Taranaki (5-6) 88-67 on Thursday night, getting 28 points from American forward Kevin Smith, then became the Saints seventh victim at their TSB Bank Arena home this season, falling short 94-89 in a game with definite playoffs intensity.
