Wellington, March 7 NZPA - New franchise the Southland Sharks narrowly missed savouring success in their debut National Basketball League match, going down to the Hawke's Bay Hawks in overtime last night.

The scores were knotted 84-84 at fulltime in Invercargill but the visitors found another gear to pull away 105-90.

The Hawks, who lost their opening match to Christchurch on Thursday, bounced back with six players reaching double figures. They were led by Everard Bartlett's 23 points while Jamil Terrell secured 17 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

For the Sharks, newly-signed import point guard Mike Rose had a game-high 29.

In Palmerston North, Wellington Saints thrashed the Manawatu Jets 115-81 to go top of the early standings thanks to 29 points from Nick Horvarth and 28 from Leon Henry respectively. However, it came at a severe cost as star point guard Lindsay Tait suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter that sidelined for the remainder of the match.

The Jets were without big import big Ronald Allen because of a back injury and their undermanned offence relied on Richard Jeter and Kaine Hokianga with 29 and 17 points respectively.

Corey Webster picked off from where he left last season on the North Shore with 34 points as his North Harbour Heat overwhelmed the Otago Nuggets 99-82.

Other notable performances for the Heat were double doubles for Breakers players Rick Rickert (18 points, 10 rebounds) and Dillon Boucher (12 points, 13 rebounds), the later nearly snaring a triple double after handing out eight assists.

For the Nuggets former rebounding champion Antoine Tisby picked up 32 points and 19 rebounds while his fellow-import Tyler Amaya had 25 points.