Basketball New Zealand

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Derrick Alston (Photosport)

Joel Tiller, Sportal

The Harvey Norman New Zealand Breakers have celebrated Tony Ronaldson’s entry into the elite 600 club by taking another top-six scalp, downing the Melbourne Tigers 105-91 at North Shore Events Centre on Thursday night.

The win sees the Breakers move up to fifth place on the HUMMER Championship NBL ladder and continues their winning run of four straight victories including two versus top-six teams.

The match-up pitted the NBL’s top shooting side (Tigers with 48 per cent) against the second best (Breakers 47 per cent), but on the night the hosts were simply too hot, shooting the lights out with 57 per cent from the field and 42.9 per cent from outside the arc as they lead from start to finish.

The home side was lead by guard Kirk Penney once again as he top scored with 24 points (six boards), but he had excellent support from American imports, guard, Orien Greene (20 points, eight assists) and forward Derrick Alston (16 points, seven boards).

Guard-come-forward Oscar Forman (five boards) also had one of his best shooting performances of the season with 16 points including 4-of-6 from long range.

For the high flying visitors – victors over New Zealand on two previous occasions this season – leading scorer once again was colossus centre Chris Anstey who collected a double-double with 22 points and 10 boards.

Forward David Barlow was the next highest scorer for Melbourne with 20 but only one other Tiger hit double figures as they collectively shot only 37 per cent from the field and 30 per cent from long range while narrowly out-rebounding the Breakers 51-45.

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis, who has had more than his fair share of bad luck this season, finally has the appearance of a coach who knows his team is hitting their straps in timely fashion.

“Now that we’ve got the team settled and we’ve got a few wins in a row it feels like it’s all starting to come together. And now that our playoff position is cemented I feel that this schedule couldn’t be better, playing this caliber of team at playoff intensity forces us to play to a certain standard which is important right now,” Lemanis said post match.

The home side started strong with a Greene triple after two minutes establishing a 6-2 lead.

The Tigers looked lethargic throughout the first 12 and Greene highlighted their lack of intensity by strolling to the hoop on the back of a solid Tony Ronaldson screen to stretch the lead to 10-2 after five.

Soon after Dave Thomas found himself robbed by an Alston block that seemingly came from nowhere, allowing Penney to cruise to the hoop for a simple lay-up in transition.

Melbourne was struggling to get Anstey the ball in his preferred areas as Alston and Ronaldson kept a close eye on the big man.

A Mika Vukona drive to the hoop was finished with a dunk seven minutes into the second quarter and the near capacity crowd hit full volume as the score stretched to 43-27.

Anstey hit his first three of the half at the end of a transition attack after Sean Lampley had picked-pocketed Penney at the other end.

Lampley, noticeably off the pace early, then appeared to awaken, leaping high for a good put-back and suddenly the Tigers had reeled the score back to six points with under a minute remaining in the half.

But it was Greene who ensured that the home side went into the break with the momentum as he hit a smooth three that swished through the hoop as the half-time siren sounded with 54-45 on the scoreboard, the Breakers way.

And the former Boston Celtics player picked up where he had left off in the first half, nailing his third three from four attempts and making a spectacular defensive steal – stretching to keep the ball in bounds, leaping and passing in one motion – before Penney and Alston combined at the other end to add another two.

Forman then finished a transition attack with a three on the Breakers next attack and the score had blown back out to 68-49.

Late in the third Barlow was beginning to find his range and avenues to the hoop and Anstey was becoming increasingly effective in the key, pillaging the home side on the boards.

But Alston stepped up again with another big momentum killing play as he pulled off another spectacular block which Forman capatalised on with his fourth triple, in the process passing his 600th point for the his New Zealand franchise.

The score read 83-64 at three-quarter-time and with four gone in the fourth the points difference was out to 23.

Both sides were dicing with foul trouble with the home side sending the Tigers to the line repeatedly.

However, the Breakers had far too big an advantage and cruised away to an easy victory.

Next up the Breakers (16-12) are hosted in Sydney on Wednesday night by the table topping Kings before concluding their regular season with a long flight to Perth on February 16.

The Tigers (20-8) return home to Melbourne where they face the wooden spoon carrying South Dragons at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Saturday night before playing the Razorbacks in Sydney on February 16.

Harvey Norman New Zealand Breakers 105 (Kirk Penney 24, Orien Greene 20, Derrick Alston 16)
Melbourne Tigers 91 (Chris Anstey 22, David Barlow 20, Darryl McDonald 11)
Box Score – Breakers v Tigers (html 63KB)