Young guns told to play with no fear
The Southland Sharks’ young guns have been handed a licence to play with no fear as they prepare for a tough assignment in Invercargill tonight.
The Sharks will take on the Taranaki Airs at ILT Stadium Southland, with the tipoff scheduled for 7.30pm.
Southland sit last in the competition standings with three rounds to play, while Taranaki have emerged as title contenders in the 2022 National Basketball League.
Taranaki possess three of the better imports in the league in Anthony Hilliard, Javonte Douglas, and Shaun Willett.
At the same time, the Sharks will be missing one of their imports with Winston Shepherd nursing a back injury, while one of Southland’s best players, Dom
Kelman-Poto, will again be away on national duties.
It will give rising stars DruLeo Leusogi-Ape and Mojave King with a prime opportunity to step up and provide yet another glimpse of their abilities.
Coach Rob Beveridge agreed the Sharks had a tough assignment ahead of them but said he felt that with a couple of key players out it was a chance for the likes of 20-year-olds Leusogi-Ape and King to shine.
‘‘Dru-Leo in particular has shown he could be so good, and Mojave has put on some amazing performances. But they are young – they are going to be inconsistent,’’ he said.
‘‘Right now we are giving them a licence for freedom and to go out and play without fear.’’
It was pretty simply what he wants to see from his team against Taranaki, and for the remainder of the season for that matter. ‘‘I want us to play hard; I want us to play together,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got to fight hard. What fans look for is commitment, players not giving up, things like that. That’s what I’m after.
‘‘We can close out the season showing our fans that we are committed to giving all that we can. That’s all I’m after. If we do that, it puts us in a position to win. But if we feel sorry for ourselves and things don’t go our way, we’ll go back into that habit that happened for a period of time – it could be a long night.’’
Tonight’s game will be the Sharks’ second last in Invercargill
for the 2022 NBL season. The final home game will be against the Franklin Bulls on Friday, August 5.
Before that, they will have away games against South Island rivals the Canterbury Rams and the Otago Nuggets.