Basketball NSW officials confirmed final standings yesterday after Newcastle, Maitland and Bankstown finished the regular season tied with 12-8 win-loss records.

The Hunters finished fourth and will play third-placed Sydney Comets (13-7) at Alexandria on Saturday, the Mustangs were fifth and will travel to play second-placed Parramatta Wildcats (15-5), and minor premiers Manly (17-3) will host Bankstown.

The three winners and the highest-ranked loser will qualify for the finals weekend, to be held at Broadmeadow on the weekend of August 14-15. If the Hunters and Mustangs both win, they would almost certainly square off in a sudden-death semi-final on August 14.

"It's a possibility, which would be great for basketball in this region," Newcastle Basketball general manager Ivan Spyrdz said yesterday.

Spyrdz explained that because Newcastle, Maitland and Bankstown all split their two-game series during the regular season, the tie-breaker system was based only on points for and against in the six matches involving those teams.

Each team then ended up with a quotient and Newcastle (1.0032) edged out Maitland (1) and Bankstown 0.9908 by the narrowest of margins.

"It basically came down to a point here and there - a free throw - which just goes to show how close the competition has been all season," Spyrdz said.

The Hunters women finished fifth after being in a similar position to the Newcastle men's team, sharing a 7-9 record with Hornsby and Sutherland for the bottom three placings in the top six.

Newcastle avoided a trip to Canberra to play the minor premiers, who went 15-1 for the season, and will now play the second-placed Bruins (14-2) at Bankstown on Saturday at 2.30pm.

Spyrdz said the Hunters men were awaiting confirmation from Sydney officials for their tip-off time but hoped it would be 8pm so supporters could watch the women play at Bankstown on Saturday afternoon then take in the men's game at Alexandria that night.