The NBS Nelson Giants felt the bite of the Southland Sharks as they concluded their 2023 season with a 75-99 loss.
Both sides were out to finish their season on a high having fallen short of making the Final Six playoffs in Auckland including the Giants 82-108 loss to the Taranaki Airs on Thursday.
While Sunday’s game wasn’t the home sides preferred season finish in front of another sold-out crowd, they’d been fortunate to deliver another admirable performance with the third consecutive absence of playmakers Avery Woodham and Matur Maker.
The visitors went on the attack early, but the home side fired back to give the Sharks a narrow seven-point lead heading into the second quarter.
While defence from the Giants was strong in the second quarter in front of the raucous crowd and nearly every capitalised opportunity executed, they trailed 37-46 at the halfway mark.
The third quarter looked as though the home side would stun the Sharks when they climbed to just one point behind the visitors.
But the Sharks fought back and pulled away the home side with a 61-71 lead heading into the fourth quarter and ending with 99-75 win.
Despite the loss, Callum McRae racked up a mighty 27 points with captain Sam Dempster nailing 12 total rebounds.
Coach Mike Fitchett says he anticipated the final game to be another “tough one” with Avery and Matua’s absence.
“It was going to be a tough one, but we just wanted to play as hard as we could and I think we had patches of that where we gave maximum effort,” he says.
“Avery’s bailed us out of a lot of tough spots this year, and he’s able to get shots and make plays when we need it, and Matua did a hell of a job for us getting to the foul line, scoring, got great length on defence, it’s hard to replace that with local talent.
“But it gives our other guys a good chance to feel the level of the league and see where they’re at, I think Callum [McRae] played well again and I think Riley Benemann played a pretty good game too.”
The Giants thanked the crowd for its support this season and a standing ovation was held for retiring Southland Shark and Tall Black, Alex Pledger.
