The Southland Sharks have beaten the Wellington Saints 98-96 in the National Basketball League final to claim their third title in club history.
Reuben Te Rangi led the way for last year's runners-up, scoring 26 points as they won their first championship since 2015.
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Southland led throughout the final, but a stunning surge from Wellington saw the defending champions within three points with less than a minute remaining.
Veteran Leon Henry had a chance to steal the victory with a three-point effort, but missed before the follow up put-back by Shaun Bruce came up short as time expired.
Wellington were looking to win their third-straight title and were favourites to send-off departing coach, Kevin Braswell on a winning note.
The Saints had no trouble finding point-scorers with Shea Ili (27), LJ Peak (23) and Jordan Ngatai (21) all contributing, but it wasn't enough as Southland on the back of Te Rangi's impressive haul, took out the honours.
Newshub.
