Basketball New Zealand

Returning Boomer Joe Ingles had a game-high 22 points in the Dragons win

The South Dragons made it six pre-season wins in a row after beating the New Zealand Breakers 121-98 at Kilsyth on Tuesday night.

Joe Ingles, in his first action after returning from Beijing, top-scored with 22 points and led the Dragons with eight assists. Rhys Carter had 21, Tall Blacks centre Nick Horvath had 20 and new signing Tremmell Darden added 16.

The game featured seven current or recently-former New Zealand Tall Blacks and five current or former Australia Boomers.

The Breakers, who have now lost their last three full pre-season games, made a quick start, hitting seven of eight three-pointers as they forged a 35-26 first quarter lead. Forward Oscar Forman was 4-of-5 from long range.

In the second quarter, the Dragons turned up the heat on defence and forced eight New Zealand turnovers. Carter hit two big threes on the way to an eight-point quarter.

The Dragons took the lead 55-54, their first lead since 2-0, and held a 60-57 advantage at half. Carter, Ingles and Darden led the Dragons in scoring at halftime with 10 each.

Like Saturday’s win over the Tigers, the third quarter proved decisive for the Dragons, as they outscored the Breakers 34-20.

Ingles stepped up big-time, scoring twelve points and throwing back-to-back assists to Carter. Ingles and Carter combined for 21 of the Dragons 34 points in the quarter as the Dragons pulled out to a 94-77 lead.

From there it was more of the same, as the Dragons cruised to a 27-21 fourth quarter advantage and a 121-98 final scoreline.

Nathan Herbert added 13 points on four of five shooting from three-point land, and Mark Worthington, also seeing his first court time as a Dragon, scored 10 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

Head coach Brian Goorjian thought the effort was better than in Saturday’s win.

“Today was a much better game, regardless of the score, than the Tigers’ game,” said the Dragons’ boss. “We were better defensively, we moved the ball better, we had seven guys in double figures and everybody contributed. I think everyone’s on the same page about getting better and that’s the exciting thing.”

Ingles came out firing like he did in Beijing and he gave the Kilsyth crowd something to cheer about.

“It felt great. The last five months I didn’t play a lot, but when I did I learned from it. I knew coming out of that, that I could do more and hopefully have a good year. It was good to get the win and I think we’ve already won more games than last year.”

Tall Blacks forward Mika Vukona scored 11 points against his former team.

“It’s good to get a win over them,” said the ex-Breaker. “But what’s more important is the improvement from the last game. That’s all the coaches wanted from everybody, so I think we took a little step forward.”

Tall Blacks guard Kirk Penney led the Breakers with 21, Forman had 20 and American centre Rick Rickert added 15 and eight rebounds.

The Dragons play their final pre-season game on Saturday, September 6 against the Adelaide 36ers at Knox, while the Breakers return to Aotearoa to prepare for their season-opener against the Wollongong Hawks on Thursday, September 18.

South Dragons 121 (Joe Ingles 22, Rhys Carter 21, Nick Horvath 20, Trammell Darden 16, Nathan Herbert 13, Mika Vukona 11, Mark Worthington 10) New Zealand Breakers 98 (Penney 21, Foreman 20, Rickert 15, Phill Jones 10, Tony Ronaldson 10)
Breakers vs Dragons Box Score (20KB html)