The Sky Sport Breakers maintained second spot on the ladder with a pair of hard earned victories in Round 14 of the NBL.
A 97-94 victory in New Plymouth on Wednesday night over the Perth Wildcats was followed by an equally tight 85-83 win in Adelaide – their third win of the season against the 36ers bolstering their overall record to 13-6.
The Breakers took the lead in the first quarter in Adelaide and led for the majority of the game thereafter but did have to withstand a late charge from the 36ers, who scored the last seven points of the contest.
After missing the last two games with a broken finger the Breakers welcomed back Will McDowell-White to the line-up and he was his typical influential self with 10 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.
Also in double figures were Barry Brown Jr (16 points), Jarrell Brantley (15 points), Izayah Le’afa (13 points) and Derek Pardon (10 points).
McD-W’s return meant the Breakers had all 12 full roster players available for the first time this season at the 19thattempt.
The win against Perth broke a sequence of five straight losses to the old enemy from out west. Once again the Breakers had to withstand another strong performance from former clubman Corey Webster who scored 19 points – he, Bryce Cotton and Brady Manek combined for 71 points.
Tai Webster, signed by the Wildcats a couple of day prior to the game, was suited up on the Wildcats bench but didn’t take the court. Unofficial reports indicating his release from the Breakers, who held his NBL playing rights, precluded him from playing against his former club.
The Breakers were once again paced by Brown Jr who scored 23 points.
Next Star Rayon Rupert made an eye catching return after missing the previous eight games with a wrist injury. The young Frenchman came off the bench to score 14 points in just 18 minutes of action.
Other notable performances came from Pardon (13 points), Brantley (11 points and 7 rebounds) and Le’afa 18 points (7/11FG).
But it was Brown that was the star turn for the hosts adding 6 rebounds and 6 assists to the 23 points that came on 10 from 18 shooting.
Brown Jr brought up his 300th point in 15 appearances. He’s the 49th Breaker to score 300 points for the club with only Carlos Powell (11 games), Kirk Penney and Mike Chappell (both 14 games) passing the mark quicker.
Other Numbers:
V Perth Wildcats
Tom Abercrombie’s blocked shot in the game against Perth was the 254th of his career drawing him level with Alex Pledger as the Breakers all-time leading “Blockers”.
There’s a slight difference in number of games played though – Pledge 238, Tom 381 !
V Adelaide 36ers
Will McDowell-White’s 7 assists sees him reach the 100 assists mark for the season at 5.9 per game. He now has 291 dimes for the Breakers in total – shortly to become just the 9th Breaker to dish 300 assists.
The victory in Adelaide was Rob Loe’s 59th in Breakers colours drawing him level with Gary Wilkinson as the 14thwinningest Breaker of all-time.
Upcoming
The Breakers have a short turn around as they are in action again on Tuesday night, this time in Perth against the Wildcats.
LACEY LOWDOWN 