If there was an aberration in the ecstatic picture about the result, it was Napier-born Henare not tasting NBL coaching success on his hometown turf in the HBS Bank Hawks' colours. He left the Bay last year despite the new Bay franchise's best attempts to entice him to remain.
"Yes, of course, I would have obviously [loved to have won at home] because I had two years here with Hawke's Bay and my goal was to win a championship but, unfortunately, that didn't happen but Southland embraced me so I'm very happy to be part of their first championship win," said the former Napier Boys' High School student.
"It's been a tough week for me, my wife and our families so it's been good to be here to do it for them," Henare said, tears welling in his eyes after attending the funeral last Wednesday of wife Lisa's mother who lost her battle with cancer.
The family was in Napier to grieve as the Sharks squad carried on training without him in Invercargill last week.
No doubt Henare was extremely proud of his men's gusty performance, mindful of Nelson's ability to claw their way back to victories this season.
"It ain't over until it's over. I don't know how many times they have done that this year but they have bounced back and fought back from match to match so it's unbelievable how they've hung around and were able to do it.
"It got a little bit closer then I would have liked but we had a few free throws so at the end of the day we had build ourselves enough of a cushion to come through."
If his recent appointment as New Zealand Breakers asistant (he's already assistant to Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic) had raised a few eyebrows, considering Wellington's Pero Cameron had a stellar start to his coaching career, than last night's outcome will vindicate that.
"Yes, we move quickly so we move to camp on Tuesday [with the Tall Blacks squad] so we can celebrate the win for a couple days but I'll have to get back to work on Tuesday," he said.
From the first quarter the blokes from the Deep South made their intentions clear, using their biggies in the mould of US import Brian Conklin and Leon Henry to build an iron-clad defence and, in offence, as battering rams.
Up 28-16 in the opening spell, Southland import Kevin Braswell and Luke Martin were the little generals on the floor as they steered the Sharks juggernaut to a crushing 31-19 second spell.
Nelson strongman Mika Vukona did his best, absorbing the first-half impact but, more often than not, the Breakers captain was picking his weary body off the floor. In the final quarter he and Conklin were involved in a scuffle with referees having to intervene to calm things down.
A ruffled import Erron Maxey came to the rescue with some three-pointers but Southland did a remarkable hatchet job on Josh Pace, restricting him to a modest 18 points by his standards.
Southland centre Gareth Dawson was a handful, crashing boards at both ends to break down Nelson's spirit in the third quarter.
Braswell top scored with 24 points while Conklin added 21 points and collected nine rebounds.
In the curtain-raiser match, the Hawke's Bay Invitation team beat the Philippines national side 86-82 although the cheering tourist supporters would have left one feeling they were the victors.
Coach Tab Baldwin had the services of Otago pair BJ Anthony and Antoine Tisby as well as Manawatu Jets import Marcel Jones.
Quarters (Sharks 1st): 1st 28-16. 2nd 59-35 (31-19). 3rd 79-54 (20-19). Final 92-81 (13-27).
