Basketball New Zealand

Kirk Penney (Photosport)

Marc Hinton, Fairfax
The Burger King NZ Breakers live to fight another day, thanks in large part to a slump-busting, club-best display from their masterful MVP marksman Kirk Penney.

Needing to win this Australian NBL clash against the Adelaide 36ers at the NSEC last night to keep alive their hopes of a playoff appearance, Penney obliged with not only his best performance of the season, but of his career, as the Breakers defeated the struggling 36ers 103-89.

The former Wisconsin standout poured in 49 points, which not only was 17 better than his season’s best, but eight more than his previous highest output in the club colours. It could not have come at a more important time either.

The victory takes the Breakers to 10-13 for the season and sees them leapfrog the 36ers into sixth on the table. There is still plenty to do over the remaining five games (at least four of which must be won) but at least they’re still in the game.

The win also put an end to both a four-game home and NBL losing streak for the Breakers and takes their record at the NSEC to a slightly more respectable 7-5 for the year.

Penney was quite simply magnificent. He made 16 of his 23 field goal attempts and was nine-of-15 from beyond the arc. For good measure he added five rebounds and five assists on a night where he stayed aggressive throughout. The only surprise was that his last-second length-of-the-court heave, that would have taken him past the half-century mark (and Carlos Powell’s club record of 50 points), came up just a few inches short.

Penney’s haul did take him past Aaron Olson as the club’s highest all-time scorer, with the Tall Blacks skipper now on 1824 points, 24 ahead of his one-time national team-mate. The fact that Penney has done so in just 76 games, compared to Olson’s 130, reinforces the merits of his achievement.

CJ Bruton also had a big game for the Breakers, adding 20 points (7/12 FG) and that whirling dervish Dillon Boucher was equally inspirational, finishing up with 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals in a performance dripping perspiration. New import Kevin Braswell had nine assists (though shot poorly) and centre Rick Rickert snared eight boards, while Boucher and Paul Henare got after it well on defence.

The 36ers, who have now lost six of their last seven, did well to get back into the game with a strong third quarter, and actually led a couple of minutes into the final spell. But they ran out of puff over the run home as the Breakers simply wanted it more. They were led by the classy John Gilchrist (22 points, six rebounds) while long-range bomber Darren Ng was a big part in getting them back into the game. Notably Adam Ballinger, playing with a back problem, was held to four points.
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“We didn’t want to lose that game,” said an ecstatic Penney afterwards. “I said in the fourth quarter ‘not again, fellas, not again’. Don’t give up on us yet, we’re still fighting.”

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis paid tribute to Penney’s performance, which set a tone for his side. “He did a good job staying aggressive at the offensive end. He put pressure on them in the open court and in the half-court he sprinted hard off cuts and screens with a scoring mentality.”

36ers coach Scott Ninnis said his side had simply had no answer to a virtuoso display from the star New Zealander.

“It was an extraordinary performance,” said Ninnis. “We had no answer. We tried a number of different things, but quite obviously none of them worked.”

It had been Penney, who strapped his team on his back and carried them out of their form funk, who inspired a 55-40 halftime lead for the Breakers.

It certainly hadn’t looked likely early in the second quarter when the Breakers, who trailed 21-22 at the end of a lethargic opening period, fell behind by seven (27-34) after just three minutes.

But then something flicked on in the Breakers. Maybe it was the realisation their season was going down the gurgler. They stepped up their defence - going full-court and furious - and suddenly the hoops came thick and fast and it was the 36ers who were wading through mud.

Penney had a sublime first half, with 16 second-quarter points propelling him to 24 in total. It was a heady mix of jump shooting and drives to the hoop, the league MVP drilling eight-of-11 shots, and five-of-seven trifectas.

Boucher’s defence helped turn the tide, too, as the Breakers went on a 28-6 run to end a second period in which they outscored the visitors 34-18 to take a firm grip on this must-win match.

Of course the collapse was going to come. The home fans knew better than to sit contentedly on a 15-point halftime lead, so many seemingly match-winning situations had they seen coughed up by their side this season.

And sure enough it came, though this time in the third quarter (rather than the last) as the 36ers won the spell 28-17 to close to within four points. Ng poured in eight points for the visitors, classy point guard Gilchrist came to life and by the start of the final stanza we well and truly had a game on our hands.

But this time the correction came from the Breakers. Penney and Bruton simply would not let their team lose, and with Boucher at his pesky best the string of defeats came to an end. And so the fight goes on, with a Saturday night trip to the Gold Coast next on the radar.

Burger King NZ Breakers 103 (Kirk Penney 49, CJ Bruton 20, Dillon Boucher 10) Adelaide 36ers 89 (John Gilchrist 22, Matthew Burston 16, Darren Ng 16, Nathan Herbert 12)