His team is undefeated after four games in two days at the Women's Basketball Championships in Dunedin.
The Harbour Breeze was the latest team vanquished, beaten 63-54.
The result mattered not a jot, with both teams destined to meet in a semifinal this morning, anyway.
Otago's scrappy 59-55 win against the New Zealand Force Academy earlier in the day had assured it would go through as the top qualifier.
The Hutt Valley Flyers will play the Nelson Sparks in the other semifinal.
For Matehaere, the win against Harbour was important to maintain momentum. It is championship day today and his side is just two wins away from Otago's first national title since 2000.
Confidence is growing, he said.
"I think [yesterday] morning was a bit of a step backwards," Matehaere said.
"We didn't play as well as we'd like but [last] night we got a lot of things done and tried a few things.
"I'm confident and I have been confident because I believe we have done the work and we've definitely got the team to do it."
The other positive to come out of the game was Matehaere was able to spell his key players Casey Lockwood and Suzie Bates.
The pair have played a lot of minutes in the last two days but neither clocked a lot of court time last night.
"Basically, we needed to rest Casey and Suzie and we got this out of this game, which was good."
Harbour made a bright start, opening up a 16-12 lead by the first break. The home side rallied and snatched the lead with about four minutes remaining in the half. But Harbour re-established its buffer with a six-point unanswered run and led 31-27 at halftime.
Otago's star player Lockwood watched the second quarter from the bench along with team-mate Bates. But, with the match on the line, the pair re-emerged for the third quarter and quickly imposed their presence on the match, Bates with a classy drive to the hoop and Lockwood with her hustle under the rim and the threat she presents on attack.
Chelsea Terei countered for the Harbour. She made a lovely run around her marker and squeezed a shot in off the glass, and Natasha Hall and Deena Franklin did a good job on the post for the visitors.
But Otago's extra height and speed started to take a toll and the score quickly mounted, with the Goldrush outscoring Harbour 22-10 in the period.
Samara Gallaher top-scored for Otago with 18 points and Jordan Hunter amassed 13 points for Harbour.
In the late game, the Hutt Valley Flyers, who have been the surprise package at the tournament, beat the New Zealand Force Academy 74-70.
Earlier, the Flyers upset the Nelson Sparks 73-72 to book a semifinal spot. The Sparks beat Harbour 65-43 in an earlier match.
The Waikato Wizards smashed the Taranaki Trojans 83-49 to finished at the top of the second tier section B. The Wizards will play the New Zealand Force Academy, which finished last in section A, in the plate final today.
The Canterbury Wildcats will play the Palmerston North Storm for seventh and eighth and the Southland Pearls will meet the Taranaki Trojans in the playoff for ninth and 10th.
