All to play for Southland Sharks against Rangers

The Sharks have seven games remaining in the regular season and they may need all 14 points on offer to book their place in the Final Four. Last week’s win against the Rangers broke a three-game losing streak for the defending champs and could be the turning point of their season. They would’ve liked to have seen their opposition finish the job on the visiting Huskies on the Sunday, but as the saying goes, if you want something done properly your better to do it yourself. That opportunity comes next week, while for the time being it is all hands on deck for this Saturday. Roberto Nelson had his best game in a Shark’s strip last week and his contribution could prove to be the difference between fourth and fifth come season’s end. This will be the second game on a back-to-back for the Rangers, who unfortunately will be undermanned and tired against a very hungry Southland team. Tim Quarterman has put up some incredible number so far in the Sal’s NBL, but with the loss of co-star Venky Jois he could be in line for even larger numbers. It may be worth a look to see what the odds are that he goes for more 50+ points.

SHARKS

Starting 5
35. Alex Pledger (centre)
97. Jarrad Weeks (guard)
22. Hyrum Harris (guard/forward)
24 . Todd Blanchfield (guard)
15. Tom Vodanovich (forward)

Bench
4. Roberto Nelson (guard) 
11. Dom Kelman-Poto (forward)
14. Tai Wynyard (centre)
25. Andrew Wheeler (guard)
45. Tinashe Matambanadzo (guard)
2. Tom Cowie (guard)
34. Connor Coll (forward)

Coach: Judd Flavell
Assistant: Leyton Haddleton
Manager: Troy Paulin

From The Coach - Judd Flavell
It’s sometimes hard to play teams back to back and we need to make sure that we’re up for the challenge the Rangers will present this week. We want to put on a good performance for ourselves and our home crowd who have been very supportive so far this season. We’ll need to take better care of the ball, stay aggressive and get a good start and hopefully good things will happen from there.

RANGERS

Starting 5
1. Tim Quarterman (guard)
2. Randall Bishop (guard)
9. Lesae Coe (guard)
13. Mikaere Watene (guard/forward)
32. Nnanna Egwu (forward)

Bench
4. Daniel Green (guard)
19. Denhym Brooke (forward)
20. Scott Telfer (forward)
6. Jaylen Gerrand (guard)
5. Hyrum Hippolite (guard)
8. Nicholas Brophy (guard)
15. Nick Barrow (forward)

Coach: Jeff Green
Assistant: Greg Elliott
Manager: Auatua Aratangi

From The Coach – Jeff Green
Playing in the deep south is always a challenge, more so against the defending champions who are looking for form going into the 2nd half of the season. Backing up from the night before against the Giants will test us especially being under-manned without Venky. I see this as an incredible opportunity for our youngsters to step up and get some real game time against quality opposition. I know the youngsters are looking forward to the challenge to gauge their progress as ball players.