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.
LACEY LOWDOWN 