Sharks win fairytale final

He stared anxiously at the electronic scoreboard, whistled in the din, vented his spleen when frustrated and squatted in agony when things went horribly wrong.

But, when it mattered most, coach Paul Henare had the presence of mind to sporadically exchange morale-boosting high-fives courtside with his troops in Napier.

That's the sort of chemistry that helped the Southland Sharks to a fairy-tale maiden Bartercard National Basketball League title at the Pettigrew-Green Arena last night against the Nelson Giants.

If anything, ANBL title-winning New Zealand Breakers skipper Henare's poker face and a pensive moment in isolation at the final buzzer were a testimony to previous winters of discontent as a coach who had stumbled in Wellington.

The weekend's playoffs had no respect for the pecking order. The bottom two qualifiers knock out the top two on Saturday night - the fourth-placed Sharks beating minor premiership champions Wellington Saints 81-66 in the first semifinal and third-placed Giants beating Otago Nuggets 87-72.

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.

"It's been a tough week for me, my wife and our families," Henare said, tears welling in his eyes after attending the funeral last Wednesday of wife Lisa's mother who lost her battle to cancer.

The family were in Napier to grieve but the Sharks squad trained 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 to victories.

"It ain't over until it's over. I don't know how many times they have done this year that but they have bounced back and hung around to do the job."

Quarters (Sharks 1st): 1st 28-16. 2nd 59-35 (31-19). 3rd 79-54 (20-19). Final 92-81