Southern Huskies coach Anthony Stewart launched an extraordinary tirade on New Zealand referees in the wake of a painful 104-97 loss to Southland Sharks in the Silverdome's first of five home games this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Huskies had fronted the lead all game on Sunday evening - bar the opening two and a half minutes and the last three and a half.
The calm New Zealanders pulled off a 35-14 final term to turn around their 14-point deficit into a seven-point win in a reversal of fortunes.
A frustrated Stewart was also left questioning his players' ticker over back-to-back late fadeouts on home court after initially winning each of the first three quarters.
The wide 25-14 foul count against the Huskies angered the coach, who was left in despair post-match amid checking the statistics on his phone in a vigorous discussion with his assistants.
"For some reason, teams just keep getting to the foul line on us," Stewart said.
"So we can make excuses, but the officiating seems to be very one-sided every week from my point of view.
"They had 29 free throws to our 14 - it's like playing away from home every game.
"It's really tough to win when the inconsistency is really tough to read as a coach."
After holding a significant double-figure lead last start in Hobart at the final break against NZNBL short-priced favourites Wellington and letting it slip, Stewart's men had a nervous look about it again in the opening minutes of Sunday's final quarter.
Real concerns were raised when the Sharks scored the opening seven points inside the first 96 seconds.
The Huskies tried to trade basket for basket that ensured they held a 10-point buffer for nearly all of the second and third terms.
But Southland wore down the defence in a 15-2 run.
"The concern for us is the fourth quarters when things get really tight," Stewart said.
"That's when we all seem to go missing.
"That's probably the most concerning point at the moment is understanding who to get the ball to when the ball movement sort of stops.
"We'll go back to the drawing board and I don't know if it's because we have only been together as a full team for a week, but we're running out of excuses."
Instead it was New Zealand Breakers NBL star Jarrad Weeks that took control.
His two free throws put the Sharks in front at 93-92 and four more from the line and three late rebounds sealed it.
But it was repeated steals inside 21 seconds from Todd Blanchfield and Hyrum Harris that yielded five points and stretched the lead to six that took the last breath out of the Huskies.
Tre Nichols shot a game-high 25 points, Jalen Billups scored 21 and Marcel Jones finished with 20 for the hosts.
But Stewart was not interested at the superficial numbers in the final wash-up.
"We have a lot of guys who look good in the first three quarters, but go missing in the fourth," he said.
"That is supposed to be money time. It tells you a bit about that we have to work harder as a team.
"Some individuals that is what we pay them for to step up at that time."