Hythe Bucks booked their place in the Solent Area Men's Division 2 play-off final by outgunning Hampshire Police 69-65.

The table-topping Bucks were expected to see off their fourth-placed opponents, but the Watersiders started the game nervously, still sore from a heavy 93-51 defeat at the hands of the Police a month previously.

They took six minutes to get on the scoresheet and registered only a dismal seven points in the first quarter. It was a similar story in the second, but back-to-back baskets from James Hall kept the deficit down to nine points.

A pep talk from coach Wayne Owen added an injection of determination after the break and, inspired by Rob Nicolson and Carl Riley, Hythe scored 24 points in the third period, although sloppy man-to-man defence allowed the Police to match every basket.

Faced with one of their toughest challenges of the season so far, Bucks changed to a 3-2 defence and suddenly the Police's lead began to dwindle.

A fast break lay-up from Nicolson cut the margin to one point with three minutes remaining and a basket plus a foul from Riley tipped the scales in their favour for the first time.

The Police countered to tie things up at 64-64, but back came the Bucks with Graham Toyne nailing a big three-pointer in the final minute and then Riley slotting in a free throw to put the game out of reach.

Hythe Bucks (with scores): Darren Blackburn 18, Carl Riley 16, Rob Nicolson 14, James Hall 13, Graham Toyne 8, Andy Longland, Ben Hall, Jake Dindar, Tony Brown, Nathan Dindar.

Hythe Stags are also through to the play-off finals thanks to an 85-56 result over Salisbury B, played in front of season's best crowd on the Waterside.

Holding a commanding 23-8 lead at the end of the first period, Hythe served up more of the same in the second and went into the break 45-21 up.

A series of missed baskets early in the third gave Salisbury hope of a comeback and poor defending led Stags coach Andrew Hanley to call a time out and refocus his players.

Salisbury narrowed the gap to 19 at the end of the third quarter, but a much-improved finish from Hythe saw them comfortably through with Paul Marsland, Rob De'Ath, Wayne Owen and James Hall all contributing well.

Hythe Stags scorers: Paul Marsland 18, Rob De'Ath 14, Tom Blakely 13, Ryan Owen 10, Wayne Owen 8, Carl Riley 7, Mike Puckett 6, Graham Halliday 5, James 4.