The Southland Sharks have beaten the Wellington Saints 98-96 in New Zealand’s National Basketball League final to claim their third title in club history.

The game was full of NBL talent with Alex Pledger (Melbourne United), Reuben Te Rangi  (Brisbane Bullets) and Jarrad Weeks (NZ Breakers) leading the Sharks to victory and Shea Illi, Majok Majok and Jordan Ngatai, all current NZ Breakers, falling short of the grand prize.

Reuben Te Rangi was the man of the match, leading the way for Sharks who had suffered a grand final loss the previous NZNBL season, scoring 26 points and claiming the Sharks first NZNBL championship since 2015. Big Man Alex Pledger also contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds.

After a slow start Shea Illi exploded on the offensive end, scoring 27 points and adding 5 assists in his finest NZNBL season to date. Illi averaged 21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists per game for the season which bodes well for his upcoming campaign with the Breakers where he is expected to start at point guard this season.

Illi’s teammates on both the Saints and the Breakers Jordan Ngatai and Majok, Majok also performed well in the losing effort adding 21 and 11 points respectfully.

The Saints gave it everything they had in the second half after being outplayed in the first, 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.

Full Stats here.