Otago sides falter in playoffs
HOW you play in the pool stages does not matter come playoff time.
Both Otago teams discovered that as the National Basketball League's inaugural 3x3 competition concluded in Invercargill on Saturday.
After an impressive first two days, the Otago Nuggets were upset in their quarterfinal.
They lost a tight match to the eventual champion Southland Sharks 2118, becoming one of three higherseeded men's teams to lose their quarterfinal.
The Otago Gold Rush upset the Canterbury Wildcats 1715 to reach the semifinals.
There they were beaten 2116 by the Harbour Breeze — an improved showing after losing 215 to the Breeze two days earlier.
The Gold Rush trailed 116 midway through its quarterfinal.
But twopointers to Zoe Richards and Tara Clement helped begin a comeback.
It clawed its way back as fatigue showed for the Wildcats, who were playing without a sub after star guard Tessa Morrison was injured on the first day.
Defensively it began to get stops, Aleisha Ruske prominent in that regard.
At the same time it slowly clawed its way back, hitting the lead with a minute to play,
A slow start left it chasing their semifinal 121, as it could not get its offence going against Harbour.
However, Clement found her range and began hitting from deep to rally back.
Harbour was able to do enough to hold off the comeback, though, reaching 21 to secure the win.
The Gold Rush was then beaten 217 in its thirdplaced playoff against New Zealand Select.
Meanwhile the Nuggets were undone by the shooting of Sharks guard Alonzo Burton.
The game remained close throughout, neither team able to pull away.
The Nuggets had led 107 after Sam Timmins finished a superb pass from Richie Rodger.
However, Burton began to heat up at that point.
He helped the Sharks reclaim the lead, before a Hyrum Harris twopoint play made it 1612.
Rodger hit a pair of twopointers to give the Nuggets a late chance, but it was unable to prevent Dom KelmanPoto scoring the winning layup.
Perhaps with a point to prove, the Nuggets put in two dominant displays after that, against the Taranaki Mountainairs and Franklin Bulls.
They beat each 2110 and 2112 respectively to finish fifth.
The Sharks continued their finalday run of form.
They first beat the Auckland Huskies 2117 in the semifinals, before edging the Hawke's Bay Hawks 2119 in the final.
The Sharks had led 1915 in the final, before two Derone Raukawa twopointers brought the Hawks back level.
But Burton again showed his range and hit a matchwinner from the top of the arc.
In the women's final, Casyn Buchman hit a late twopointer to secure an 1816 win for the Auckland Dream over the Harbour Breeze.