The Otago Nuggets captain waved his arms in the air with a new-found energy after watching team-mate Michael Harris nail a much-needed three-pointer that put his side back in front.
Moments later, Todd Withers picked up a ball, flicked it off to JaQuori McLaughlin, who in turn flicked it back to Withers, to finish with a massive dunk.
As a primal scream came from the big man drawing the foul, the home crowd roared and it was then you got the feeling the Nuggets were on the way to something special.
They beat the Southland Sharks 76-68 at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin last night.
After being down by 10 early in third quarter, the home side ran rings around the Sharks for the rest of the quarter and clawed its way back to lead 56-48 at the break.
Nothing went right for the visitors in the third spell, whether it be a missed pass, soft rebound, or the most telling — only putting up eight shots to the Nuggets’ 24.
That set the foundation for a big final quarter and the Nuggets picked up its second straight win to start the season.
The Southland Sharks closed the gap to within one late in the fourth.
But McLaughlin took the shot and drew the foul to put the Nuggets back up by three.
Soon Darcy Knox drilled a massive three — met with a bear hug from coach Brent Matehaere and team-mates — to giving the Nuggets a seven-goal lead with three minutes to go.
"That second-half effort defensively was Herculean," Matehaere said.
"The way the guys came out and really stepped up showed the mana that the team has, about themselves, and they wanted to come out and basically take care of what had happened in the first half.
"Hats off to them.
"They’re the ones that put the work in, put the effort in."
McLaughlin put in a big shift scoring 25 points, while Timmins was huge on defence with 10 rebounds.
Sharks captain Jeremy Kendle was best for the visitors with 27 points.
It was a game of momentum shifts, with the Nuggets humming early.
But once the Sharks clicked into gear, they were hard to stop. There was more cohesion from the Southlanders and they took control through the middle part of the first period.
But McLaughlin drained a couple of three-pointers late in the piece for the home side to lead 20-16 at the break.
That momentum from the first quarter was missing for the Nuggets in the second.
They started to come right near the end of the quarter but trailed 40-32 at halftime.
"We’re finding out who we are as a 2023 Nuggets and right now we’re a team that can play defence," Matehaere said.
"We’re a team that can lock in and get stops, so if we can be that team for the rest of the season, we’re going to go a long way.
"I’m really happy with how the guys came out after [the break]."
They now hit the road for their first away game of the season against the Taranaki Airs on Saturday.
"It [Taranaki] hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us and it’s something we need to rectify.
"Trent Adam [Airs coach] is a good friend of mine and I hate losing to him.
"We’ll make sure we prep really well."
