The BNZ Breakers moved to 2-0 in the Australian NBL with an 81-79 win against South East Melbourne Phoenix at Spark Arena on Sunday. It’s only the fifth time the Breakers have begun a season with consecutive wins across the opening two rounds – the last occasion was back in 2014
The mercurial Parker Jackson-Cartwright was again the driving force behind the win scoring a team high 19 points to accompany 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and a block.
Only 32 games into his Breakers career Jackson-Cartwright is already powering his way up the club’s all-time standings for both steals and assists.
With 61 steals he sits 16th on that list only one behind Shea Ili in 15th. A top-10 spot could be reached this side of Xmas with Finn Delany (83 steals) currently occupying tenth position.
PJ-C, with his 7 assists against SEM, has now accumulated 193 dimes and will almost certainly become the 14th Breaker to reach the 200 mark when they are next in action in the NBL in mid-October.
Other stats from Sunday’s game:
Freddie Gillespie, on debut, became Breaker #157 and the 56th import to play for the club.
Max Darling (5 points) scored his first points for the Breakers as did 17 year-old Mexican Next Star Karim Lopez (3 points).
With 6 points in the contest Mojave King reached 300 career points.
The Breakers now head to the States to play NBA sides Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Breakers are next in action in the NBL on Thursday October 17th in Brisbane against the Bullets and then two days later at Spark Arena in a blockbuster fixture against Perth Wildcats.
Fielding seven debutants and a rookie Head Coach in Petteri Koponen the BNZ Breakers began the new Australian NBL season with a 91-87 victory at HoopsFest in Perth on Saturday night.
The Breakers, leading by 26 points at one stage in the third quarter, appeared to be headed to a commanding win but had to survive a late Bullets comeback before eventually recording a confidence building victory.
In the absence of the suspended Freddie Gillespie Sam Mennenga shone with an NBL best 22 points and 7 rebounds. The other star of the show for the Breakers was diminutive point guard Parker Jackson Cartwright who put together his first double-double for the club – 20 points and 11 assists.
Those 11 assists were an NBL career high for PJ-C and the most by a Breaker since Will McDowell-White tallied the same number against South East Melbourne Phoenix in December 2022.
As reported previously the high volume of Breakers debutants is the most since their inaugural game against the Adelaide 36’ers back in October 2003.
Sam Mennenga (Breaker #152), one of the seven new boys, is the 8th former Westlake Boys High alumni to play for the Breakers following in the footsteps of a pretty illustrious group:
Tom Abercrombie (429 games)
Corey Webster (236)
Kirk Penney (160)
Rob Loe (145)
Tai Webster (35)
Yanni Wetzell (22)
Jack Salt (3)
Mennenga’s 22 points is the most by any of the above group on debut except recent FIBA Hall of Famer inductee Kirk Penney who scored 23 points in his first outing as a Breaker.
The victory squares the ledger in the Breaker’s win-loss record in the opening game of the season with the success against Brizzy the 11th win in 22 attempts. It’s just the third triumph on the road in the opening game of a campaign and the first since 2011.
The Breakers are next in action on Sunday September 22 at Spark Arena against South East Melbourne Phoenix.
But for import forward Freddie Gillespie serving a one game suspension the BNZ Breakers would potentially have had nine debutants for their Australian NBL opening round clash with the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.
Despite Gillespie’s absence the Breakers could still field as many as eight new faces when they take the court against the Bullets in Perth – the most since their inaugural game against the Adelaide 36’ers back in October 2003. At the North Shore Events Centre that night all eleven players used were of course Breakers debutants.
Gillespie will miss the opening game of the season after being given a one game ban by the NBL Game Review Committee for planting a Liverpool Kiss on Sydney Kings guard Shaun Bruce in last Friday’s Blitz game.
The high volume of debutants comes about following a roster makeover during in the off-season. As a result only American point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Aussie forward Dane Pineau remain from the contracted group that was assembled this time last year at Atlas Place. Max Darling, a Development Player in 2023-24, took to the floor briefly in one game during the last campaign but otherwise the class of 24-25 are Breakers rookies.
Likely to hit the pine on Friday in Perth are American guard Matt Mooney, Canadian Next Star Karim Lopez, Australians Mitch McCarron, Grant Anticevich, Jonah Bolden, Sean Bairstow, Mojave King and Sam Mennenga. Mennenga, a former Westlake Boys High and Harbour Basketball standout, is back in familiar surrounds for his second NBL season following a year with the Cairns Taipans.
Mennenga and Darling are the only Kiwis on the roster although King, born in Dunedin and raised in Australia can, at a push, be classified as a New Zealander.
Whether it’s two or three New Zealand passport holders, the number of Kiwis on the main roster is the lowest ever. Last season there were four NZ passport holders in Izayah Le’afa, Tom Abercrombie, Dan Fotu and Finn Delany but that quartet have all moved on for different reasons.
Back in 2008-09 the outstanding foursome of Kirk Penney, Phill Jones, Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher were the Kiwi mainstays but since then, and until the last couple of years, the local contingent has hovered around the half dozen mark.
It’s zenith was in 2017-18 when a near all-Kiwi lineup was made up of Delany, Abercrombie, Shea Ili, Kirk Penney, Mika Vukona, Rob Loe, Jordan Ngatai, Alex Pledger and Americans DJ Newbill and Edgar Sosa.
It may be a while before we again see that depth and quality of Kiwi talent in Breakers uniforms.
The Girls Zone 1 Secondary Schools Premierships – the National Championships Qualifiers – has been won, as anticipated, by Westlake Girls High School although they were pushed all the way before defeating Manurewa High School in the Grand Final.
Joining those two teams at Nationals at the end of the month will be Takapuna Grammar School, Mt Albert Grammar, St Kentigern College and Epsom Girls Grammar School.
Grand Final:
Westlake 58 – Zenthia Stowers 17, Lily Fotu 13, Kodee Williams-Sefo 10, Imani Rasmussen 8, Emma Schroeder 8
Westlake, the defending national champions, will carry the number one seeding into the 2024 tournament after overcoming a resolute Manurewa High with a 58-49 victory.
Aiming for a three-peat at nationals Westlake had Zenthia Stowers (17 points) to thank in this one – her clutch 3-pointer in the dying minutes finally saw off a determined Manurewa team. Shout-out also to Amy Pateman who, sidelined since suffering an ACL injury at the 2023 National Champs, made a welcome return to the court during the Qualifying Tournament.
Manurewa High attended nationals for the first occasion in 2023 and won Prems for first time this season. This ever improving team, with Bella Manu-Moore and Shirley Tuilimu in fine form, look more than capable of a top eight finish at nationals this year.
Mt Albert Grammar 64 – Sahara Katene 17, Meiya Lemafa 16, Te Arini Roberts 9, Summer Tawera 8
Takapuna Grammar, led by Amy McKenzie and Tall Fern Bailey Flavell, held off MAGS to claim third place. Taka finished 11th at Nationals in 2023 and are primed to better that this time around.
Mt Albert Grammar stumbled through the early part of the season but have found form at the business end of the campaign.
Sahara Katene led the tournament scoring with 225 points at 28ppg – aided by her scoring prowess MAGS (5th last year) will be hoping for another strong showing in Palmy North.
St Kentigern College 54 – Kilani Tuineau 18, Manawa Rogers 13, Giselle Forster 9, Jenette Tuumaialu 7
St Kentigern College, third in the Prems competition, couldn’t quite match that finish in this tournament. Kilani Tuineau averaged 19ppg through the qualifiers and it will be exciting to see what she and the St Kent’s team can achieve at Nationals.
Epsom Girls Grammar struggled through the Prems campaign managing just three wins but put that poor record aside to book another trip to Palmerston North after solid performances through the qualifiers – guard Draun Forbes averaged 20ppg.
7th/8th Playoff:
Rangitoto College 94 – Mela Andrews 23, Eva Veale 18, Moananui Wynyard 16, Maddison Skelton 15, Bella Anderson 8
Northcote College 89 – DJ Hannah 27, Lisa Gear 20, Abby Allan 16, Ema Lavemaau 12
With only six spots available both teams missed out on automatic qualification to Nationals. However it’s possible that Rangitoto may receive an invitation should any of the other three zones not pick up their allocated six places.
Rangitoto College will be in prime position to accept an invitation after winning the high scoring encounter with Northcote.
Northcote exceeded expectations by finishing runners-up in the Prems competition but will be disappointed to have missed out on automatically qualifying for Nationals. Like Takapuna they will be nervously awaiting a phone call from the Nationals Tournament organisers.
Jackson Kiss once again put together a dominant performance to lead Auckland Grammar School to the Boys Zone 1 Secondary Schools Premierships – the National Championships Qualifying Tournament.
Kiss, the outstanding player in Auckland high school basketball in 2024, and bound for the USA following Nationals, posted 33 points as Grammar swept aside Rosmini College 124-88 in the championship decider at Pulman Arena on Saturday night.
The impressive AGS side made it a clean sweep of the local competitions as last month they had claimed the Auckland Premier Grade championship in equally convincing style.
A shout out also to Grammar captain Ryan Hunt who missed the Qualifiers due to his commitments with the Junior Tall Blacks at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup in Jordan. Pleasing to report that the JTB’s have qualified for the 2025 U19 World Cup after claiming a top four finish in Jordan.
Grammar, with Hunt back in the line-up, will head to Nationals as the number one seed from the northern region (boasting a 22-1 record overall this season) hoping to go one better than in 2011 when they were beaten finalists.
Rosmini College have to content themselves with the runners-up berth in both competitions in 2024. They have lost all four games to AGS this season although they are unbeaten in the 20 games they have played against all other opponents.
Grand Final:
Auckland Grammar 124 – Kiss 33, Lawson Pryor 20, Carver Gibson 16, Brigham Hakaraia 11, Kaden Papera 7
Other Results (the top seven teams qualify for Nationals):
3rd/4th Playoff:
Pukekohe High School 63 – Ezekiel Otunuku 17, Harry Kelso 16, Iziah Neho 7, Nathaniel Short 6
St Kentigern College 94 – Cooper Te Ratana 27, Hunter Te Ratana 25, Cooper Lepou 16, Ari Taylor 8, Noah Heke 6
St Kentigern, fourth in the Auckland Prems competition, finished one better at Qualifiers with the Te Ratana brothers Cooper and Hunter leading the charge for the Saints. The pair averaged 15 points apiece through the tournament.
Despite the loss Pukekohe are now preparing for a second consecutive visit to Nationals. They finished a highly creditable 11th at last year’s Nationals and may well be targeting a top eight finish this time around.
Westlake Boys High 87 – Troy Supple 23, Noah Rasmussen 23, Daley Pohio 13, Troy Wentworth 9
In 2023 Westlake Boys missed the Nationals for the first time in many years but the five time national champions made no mistake this time around. Seniors Troy Supple and Noah Rasmussen led the way in this one and will be called on to do the same in Palmy North.
2024 Senior A champions Dilworth, despite being without skipper Ezrah Eagle away on Junior Tall Blacks duty finished sixth.
However they have had to forgo their spot at Nationals as the school basketball and rugby teams plus the choir are about to embark on a major tour to the USA and the United Kingdom.
7th/8th Playoff:
St Peter’s College 88 – Spencer Carr 19, Gus Dallow 15, Mario Nola 15, Montana Ekeroma 15, Bailey Smith 14, Alex Davis 8
St Peter’s College have only attended Nationals on one previous occasion – and that was in 2017 – so there is plenty to look forward to for the 2024 team. NZ U17 point guard Gus Dallow leads from the front for the Saints.
It looks as if Mt Roskill Grammar will be the beneficiary of Dilworth’s unavailability for Nationals. The 8th placed finisher normally misses out Nationals but this year it would appear not to be the case.
Roskill endured a win-less Prems campaign so another trip to Palmerston North would be reward for their perseverance and good showing in the past week.
LACEY LOWDOWN 