LACEY LOWDOWN

The BNZ Breakers, back from their two-game NBA excursion, were defeated 97-88 by Melbourne United in the Victorian capital on Sunday afternoon.

It was an afternoon we got to see two new Breakers  in action and also an occasion the Breakers took the court with an all overseas starting five for the first time in the club’s 633 game history.

With Tom Abercrombie relegated to the bench coach Mody Maor wheeled out a first five featuring Australians Will McDowell-White and Mangok Mathiang to accompany the American trio of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Zylan Cheatham and recent arrival Anthony Lamb.

Former NBA player Lamb, the 148^th Breaker, scored 15 points against United while fellow debutant Mantas Rubštavičius (Breaker #149) had 2 points and 2 rebounds in his first outing. 21 year-old Rubštavičius, a Lithuanian national team player, is part of the NBL’s Next Stars programme.

Cheatham scored a monster 30 points while Jackson-Cartwright had 5 steals to accompany 18 points and 5 assists although fouled out with 3:37 to play.

Other numbers of interest:

McDowell-White, with 9 dimes, passed 400 assists for the Breakers – the 8^th Breaker to reach this number. Averaging 4.3 assists per game he will likely threaten the 500 mark before the season concludes but has a long way to go to reach Paul Henare’s all-time club record of 901 assists. 

It’s early in the season but the hyphenated duo of McDowell-White (6.5apg) and Jackson-Cartwright (6.0apg) are first and third in the NBL in that statistical category with PJC leading the steals category (4 per game) and also currently the second leading scorer tallying 21 points per outing.

Izayah Le’afa scored 7 points to reach 800 points in his 96^th NBL game. 425 of those points were scored in his two season with South East Melbourne Phoenix prior to joining the Breakers. 

Dane Pineau’s 5 points were his first in Breakers colours and took the Australian forward past 400 NBL career points.

Next up for the Breakers (1-2) is a home encounter with Adelaide 36ers (2-5) at Spark Arena on Thursday October 26.

The BNZ Breakers began their 2023-24 NBL season in a positive fashion defeating Cairns Taipans 98-87 at Spark Arena on Saturday night. In front of nearly 7,000 fans it was a fitting way to celebrate Tom Abercrombie’s 400^th game for the club.

Abercrombie is the first player to make 400 appearances for the club with the Breakers Top-10 appearance makers listed below.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright may be small in stature – generously listed as 5’11” – but is certainly big in game and demonstrated that with a stats line of 25 points (10/17FG), 8 assists, 6 steals and 4 rebounds.

His 6 steals are the most on debut by a Breakers player since Dillon Boucher snaffled 8 additional possessions in the inaugural Breakers game against the Adelaide 36ers back in October 2003.

The victory represented the Breakers first season opening win since 2016.

Five players made their Breakers debuts against the Taipans with Zylan Cheatham becoming Breaker #143, Jackson Cartwright #144, Justinian Jessup #145, Mangok Mathiang #146 and Dane Pineau #147.

Finn Delany made a welcome return to Breakers colours posting 18 points (4/7 3PG) and a couple of rebounds.

A shout-out to former Westlake Boys High and Harbour representative Sam Mennenga. Mennenga, making his professional debut, impressed as he led the Taipans scoring with 17 points on 7 from 11 shooting. Another Tall Black Sam Waardenburg was also in double figures for Cairns scoring 12 points.

Upcoming:

Izayah Lea’fa needs just 9 points to reach 800 career points, 425 of those with South East Melbourne Phoenix.