MASANORI UDAGAWA/STUFF

Wellington Saints guard Shea Ili goes for a layup against the Supercity Rangers at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington on Friday night.

A 32-3 run to start the third quarter and late resilience has seen the Wellington Saints ease past the Super City Rangers.

The Saints trailed 48-41 at halftime at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington on Friday night, but were up 73-51 seven minutes into the second half after an astounding run which the Rangers had no answer for.

They would go on to win 98-93 after the Rangers produced an inspired comeback of their own to get the deficit back to one late in the fourth quarter.

The score was 94-93 with 20.6 seconds to go before LJ Peak hit a layup for the Saints to push the lead to three.

READ MORE:
* Red-tape issues for C-Web
* Jets secure first win
* Saints see off Hawks

With 14.8 seconds to go, the Rangers inbounded, but Peak won a steal off Marcel Jones before hitting two free-throws to ice the game.

Jordan Ngatai was influential in the Saints' third-quarter surge, ending with 18 points, while Shea Ili was the Saints' best throughout the game with 23 points to move his side to 3-1 for the season. Peak was also in good form with 22 points, while Majok Majok had 16 rebounds.

Ili said they were some harsh, but justified, words from coach Kevin Braswell which spurred them on to their third-quarter performance.

"We went into halftime and got a bit of a growling. We had no heart, it looked like we didn't want to be out there and seemed like we all thought we had an easy game, but it wasn't like that, they played well.

"We came back out and played some pretty good basketball, keeping them to 10 points for the quarter, but we let them have 35 points in the fourth, which is not good for us."

The now 0-5 Rangers can take heart from their first-half performance, but the way they folded so easily in the second will have coach Jeff Green with plenty to ponder.

Aside from his late loss of possession, Jones was impressive for the Rangers, especially in the late comeback, ending with a game-high 26 points, while Lindsay Tait, who was presented with a gift from his former team pre-game to commemorate his impending retirement, wound back the clock with 21 points.

The first quarter saw the Saints jump out to an early lead, but were clawed back by some impressive play from Jones and Devon Scott. 

The Rangers led by one at quarter time, with that deficit still separating the teams midway through the second quarter.

But Tait started to step up his play, combining well with Jones, as the Rangers got out to their seven-point halftime lead.​

But within two minutes of the start of the second half, the Saints were back in the lead by one after threes from Ngatai and Peak and a layup from Ili.

By the time Ngatai blew threw a Scott block to dunk on the American and get an and-1, the Rangers looked down and out.

Ngatai then hit a three, followed by an alley-oop play between Leon Henry and Peak to push the lead to what seemed to be an insurmountable 22 points, although the Rangers did produce an impressive fightback in the fourth quarter.  

Wellington Saints 98 (Shea Ili 23 points, LJ Peak 22, Jordan Ngatai 18) Super City Rangers 93 (Marcel Jones 26 points, Lindsay Tait 21, Devon Scott 13). 1Q: 24-25; HT: 41-48; 3Q: 76-58

 - Stuff