The Pistons included Hayden Allen in their lineup although his inclusion in the team may depend on the outcome of the Auckland Stars appeal against their suspension from the 2010 NBL season. He was certainly to the fore on Saturday as he scored 8 first quarter points  on his way to a game high 31 points, giving the defending NBL champions a 26-16 advantage at the first break.

Dillon Boucher was a surprise inclusion in the Heat team having not yet trained with the squad due to Breakers commitments but he was unable to slow the Pistons flow as they steadily built momentum to take a commanding 57-30 half time lead.

Coach Judd flavell used the game to give all his players plenty of court time including four young players making their senior debuts, Houston O’Riley, Brad Anderson, Sam King and Morgan Nathan. The youngsters coped much better with the pace of the game after half time. O’Riley began to trouble the Pistons defence with some penetrative snipes, Dan Ryan nailed a couple of threes and Daryl Cartwright scored 7 points in the quarter as the Heat reduced the lead by nine points to 58-76 at three quarter time.

The Heat won the final quarter 21-16 to further reduce the Waikato advantage and gave themselves some momentum heading into a replay in Hamilton next weekend before the first round of the regular season starts in March.. It is expected the Heat will be boosted by the return of BJ Anthony and the inclusion of Rick Rickert for this game.

 The Heat host the Otago Nuggets at the North Shore Events Centre on Saturday March 6^th whilst Waikato will host the Nelson Giants in the opening game of the new season on Thursday March 4^th

Final score: Harbour Heat 79 (Dan Ryan 14, Darryl Cartwright 12, Dillon Boucher 11) Waikato pistons 92 (Hayden Allen 31, Eric Devendorf 14, Mike Homik 13)