Basketball New Zealand

Kirk Penney had a game-high 25 points to take the Breakers to their eighth win

Ronny Lerner, Sportal
The New Zealand Breakers have moved to second spot on the Australian National Basketball League ladder after handing the Melbourne Tigers a heartbreaking 86-84 defeat at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Saturday night.

In a game that gave fans a tantalizing preview of what the playoffs will be like this season, the visitors led by as much as 22 points in the third quarter (67-45) but a Sam Mackinnon-inspired Melbourne outfit flexed its considerable muscle to completely eliminate the deficit in the final quarter although never managing to wrest back the lead it only ever enjoyed in the first quarter.

However, the major talking point in the match came with 16 seconds to go in the contest when Mackinnon appeared to have won the ball courtesy of Rick Rickert looking to take the ball out of bounds but, to the dismay of the Melbourne bench, the decision went in favour of New Zealand.

After CJ Bruton unsuccessfully went for a jumper with five seconds to go, the ball raced up the other end but Ebi Ere‘s prayer from outside the arc under immense physical pressure with a second remaining didn’t go in.

Kirk Penney was the leading scorer for the Breakers with 25 points while Tony Ronaldson with 13 and Oscar Forman with 12 points and nine rebounds provided solid support.

For Melbourne, Chris Anstey (19 and 11), Mackinnon (12 and 10) and Rod Grizzard (18) were the best.

Ronaldson put relinquishing such a big lead down to the Breakers deviating from what worked so well for them in the first half but was thankful that crucial shots by himself and Forman at the end were enough to ensure victory.

“We just made some shots in the end,” the all-time NBL games record holder said.

“Whenever you’re struggling at the offensive end, your defence has to stay solid and even though they were making runs at us for the most part, when it mattered, we got stops and that was the key.”

Melbourne coach Al Westover was unhappy with his offense saying that it didn’t gel at all for the entirety of the match.

“Basically, we hold a team to 86 points on our home court we should win that game,” Westover said.

“Our offense let us down … (it’s) a bit disappointing, six-for-25 threes on our home court – that’s not really championship calibre.”

It was a blow-for-blow start to the match with both teams trading baskets and the scores being level an amazing five times in the first three minutes and 51 seconds.

Grizzard began the contest in ominous form nailing 11 points in the first 5:22 and the Tigers controlled the tempo for majority of the term but saw their lead evaporate when Penney nailed back-to-back treys to hand New Zealand a 23-22 advantage.

Although the Breakers momentarily relinquished their lead when Tiger Nathan Crosswell hit two free throws with 2:40 left in the quarter, the visitors finished off the term stronger and led 30-28 at the first break.

Penney showed why he is the leading point-scorer in the competition with 14 points in the first term including three trebles.

The second term was a very different story to the first as the Breakers proceeded to completely dominate their more fancied opponent, out-scoring the Tigers 30-15 to take a commanding 60-43 lead at half-time.

Penney was almost unsighted in the first eight minutes of the quarter but Bruton and stalwart Ronaldson stepped up to be the major protagonists in a dominant 17-6 run for New Zealand.

The Tigers managed to stop the hemorrhaging somewhat after trailing 47-34 but their woeful 6-of-16 shooting for the quarter cost them dearly – a fact exacerbated by the visitors doubling their defensive rebound count from eight to 16 at the major break.

To make matters worse for Melbourne, Penney awoke from his slumber to score seven points in the last 4:19 of the half to help his team to a commanding advantage heading into the third quarter.

Penney had 21 points after two quarters while Grizzard (15) and the ever-reliable Anstey (13) – the only Tigers to score more than five points for the opening half – were keeping their team in the contest.

And if Melbourne thought it was going to get easier in the third term New Zealand opened up with a 7-2 run to extend its lead to a game-high 22 points (67-45)

But Mackinnon kicked into gear at this stage to spark a remarkable 26-4 run for Melbourne which ran into the final quarter.

Mackinnon dragged his side into the contest with eight points and two crucial rebounds at the defensive end before being rested with 4:42 left before three-quarter time.

Anstey kept his first-half output up and joined Mackinnon in leading Melbourne right back into the contest as the Breakers lost their aggressive edge and missed clutch shots with a paltry 5-of-15 from the field for the term.

Melbourne stormed into the final break trailing by just three (68-71).

The Tigers managed to level the scores up three times in the final stanza but in the frenetic final few moments weren’t able to gain the ascendancy as Ronaldson and Forman both nailed crucial baskets from beyond the arc which were enough to hand the visitors victory.

The Breakers (8-3) now travel up to Cairns to take on the Taipans on Wednesday while the Tigers (7-4) next host Cairns on November 19.

New Zealand Breakers 86 (Kirk Penney 25, Tony Ronaldson 13, Oscar Forman 12) Melbourne Tigers 84 (Chris Anstey 19, Rod Grizzard 18, Sam Mackinnon 12)
Breakers vs Tigers Box Score (21KB html)