Who could have predicted that in Round 16 of the NBL the Sky Sport Breakers would lose at home to the bottom placed team on the ladder and win on the road against the team at the top of the table?
In front of a crowd of over 14,000 the Sky Sport Breakers pulled off one of their more impressive wins of the season defeating the table topping Kings in Sydney 93-88 on Sunday.
Jarrell Brantley was immense piling on 30 points to accompany 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and a steal – his banked three with 15 seconds to play the game clincher.
Will McDowell-White was equally impressive reeling off a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists, a performance even more meritorious given he had to carry added back court responsibilities given the absence of the injured Izayah Le’afa and Barry Brown Jr.
Earlier in Round 16 the Breakers had gone down 78-76 to cellar dwellers Illawarra Hawks 78-76, the Breakers undone by a dramatic Tyler Harvey long range three as time expired.
With one home game to come, against Melbourne United on Thursday at Spark Arena, the Breakers record is 6-7 in New Zealand and 8-3 on the road. This means the Breakers, for the first time in the club’s history, will have a superior regular season away record than home record.
Perhaps those 57 games played in Australia in the previous two years have provided the foundation for the successes on the road!!
Here are the numbers:
Thursday v Illawarra Hawks at Spark Arena:
Derek Pardon made his 8th double-double of the season producing a season high 17 rebounds (10 of those offensive) to accompany 19 points.
2 points from French Next Star Rayon Rupert took him to 100 points for the season.
Sunday in Sydney against the Kings:
Derek Pardon, with 11 points in the contest, became the third Breaker (all the three imports) to score 300 points this season.
Brantley’s 30 points was a season best for the power forward and within a point of the individual high for the club in 2022-23 – Barry Brown Jr scored 31 against South East Melbourne back in December in Christchurch.
McDowell-White’s double-double was his fourth of the season.
Rob Loe and Cam Gliddon both passed the 100 points mark for the season, Loe also now with 901 points for the club – the 20th Breaker to reach the milestone.
LACEY LOWDOWN 