Sharks’ focus turns to next year
The Southland Sharks put a smile on their faithful fans’ faces on Friday night when they finished this year’s disappointing campaign on a high note.
The Sharks beat the Franklin Bulls 81-77 in their final outing of the NBL season, at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill.
Southland trailed by 13 points at halftime time against a Bulls team missing three of their best players – Corey Webster (injured), Giddy Potts (injured) and Jayden Bezzant (Commonwealth Games).
But the Sharks found their mojo to produce the third-quarter blitz that set up the victory.
Southland went on a 15-0 run to start the third quarter and won the quarter 33-15 to take a fivepoint lead into the final quarter.
The lead was pushed out to 74-64 on the back of a couple of Jaylen Gerrand three-pointers before the Bulls pulled it back and with 1min 20sec to play found themselves back in front.
However, a three from Alonzo Burton and a dunk from Romaro Gill iced the win for the Sharks.
Brayden Inger was the star of the show for the Sharks, banking 18 points and 12 rebounds.
American import Daishon Knight also picked up 16 points, while Gill finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Friday night’s victory was a nice moment for a team that generally struggled to click this year.
The victory meant the Sharks finished the season with a six-win 12-loss record to sit second-last, with the Manawatū Jets picking up the wooden spoon.
Despite the Sharks’ drop from a regular playoff team to the bottom end of the table, they have still pulled in good crowds this year. The work now starts for the Sharks decision-makers as they work towards an improved campaign next year.
If there was any doubt about the various elements of building a championship-winning roster it was hammered home this year.
The Sharks did a good job in recruiting Majove King and DruLeo Leusogi-ape. The two youngsters were standouts for Southland, with King named MVP for this year. But coach Rob Beveridge admitted that with youth came some inconsistency.
Southland potentially also lacked some leadership among their playing group this season.