Basketball New Zealand

Breakers guard C J Bruton v Adelaide (Photosport)

Joel Tiller, Sportal
The NZ Breakers have registered their biggest ever Australian NBL victory, beating the Adelaide 36ers 118-80 at North Shore Events Centre on Thursday.

Adelaide never found its scoring rhythm in the face of intense Breakers interior and perimeter defence, while the home side was typically clinical from long range and consistently busy inside.

For the Breakers, shooting guard Kirk Penney was yet again the top scorer with 34 points to accompany nine assists and six steals, despite carrying three stitches in his right index finger throughout the game.

Forward Oscar Forman continued his strong all-court form with 14 points and nine boards, CJ Bruton chipped in with 16 points and seven boards and centre Rick Rickert accumulated his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards (his seventh double-double in 14 NBL matches).

Adelaide, who were without star import Adam Ballinger and young point guard Aaron Bruce, struggled at the offensive end of the court all night despite an excellent game from Jacob Holmes.

Holmes finished the match with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while fellow off-season recruit Luke Schenscher (15 points and 14 rebounds) and veteran guard Brett Maher (14 points) tried hard throughout.

In his 100th NBL game, Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis was typically understated about the nature of the win.

“It’s great, but at the end of the day, it’s just one win and we need to keep winning at home,” Lemanis said.

“We’ve got Cairns coming here next week which is going to be an unbelievable game, they’re playing great basketball right now and so are we. I think it was nearly a full house tonight and I hope we can sell it out next Thursday because I’m sure this place will be pumping.”

The Breakers came roaring out of the traps with a 9-0 scoring run on the back of an easy Tony Ronaldson three and field goals to Penney, Rickert and Bruton, while Adelaide missed four straight three-point attempts and a jump shot before coach Scott Ninnis called a time-out.

Six minutes in, Penney was forced to the bench as a slap to his hand re-opened his stitched finger. Despite copping a broken tooth last week, Bruton didn’t hesitate to put his body on the line as he milked a charging call out of Mark Tyndale, his hustle characteristic of the Breakers’ superior defensive intensity throughout the four quarters.

With just over minute remaining in the opening period Adelaide missed its sixth three-point attempt and New Zealand closed out the period with a sharp triple to Bruton on the back of a sweet reverse-hand no-look pass from Dillon Boucher.

Scoring slowed early in the second as Adelaide’s cold hands continued with another two long range attempts rimming out. Both teams traded turnovers midway through the quarter before Forman and Bruton sank back-to-back threes to stretch the lead to 38-22.

And after the time-out Forman added his second three. But it wasn’t until after 23 minutes of play that Maher finally chalked up the visitor’s first triple with the deficit at 16 points.

Penney and Ronaldson kept up the three-point scoring pressure as the clock showed a 21-point lead (55-34) to the Breakers at half-time.

Forman opened the second half scoring with his third triple from as many attempts, while 36er’s centre Schenscher immediately replied with a three-point play to bring his score to double figures.

On the next possession, Forman again stepped up and slotted his fourth long bomb to keep Adelaide reeling

Maher finally found his range with a pair of excellent triples from well outside the perimeter midway through the third and Brad Davidson then added a fourth long bomb for the quarter.

But the visitors’ momentum soon vanished as Penney added another pair of triples either side of a Bruton bomb. Jones then opened his three account and the hosts closed out three-quarter time with a 15-0 run to lead 88-59.

The hosts were rampaging, with multiple Phill Jones and Penney threes in the fourth and scoring almost at will.

As the record Auckland crowd of 3,200 began a round of celebratory Mexican waves coach Lemanis could afford to relax resting four of his starting five and bringing on development player Corey Webster for a three minute cameo.

Next Thursday, the Breakers (3-0) host the Cairns Taipans (2-1) at North Shore Events Centre while Adelaide travel to play the Tigers in Melbourne (2-1) at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Saturday 11.

NZ Breakers 118 (Kirk Penney 34, Phill Jones 18, C J Bruton 16) Adelaide 36ers 80 (Jacob Holmes 19, Luke Schenscher 15, Brett Maher 14)
Q 23-14
HT 55-34 (32-20)
3Q 88-59 (33-25)
FT 118-80 (30-21)