Kirk Penney. Photo / Getty Images
Breakers 100
Gold Coast Blaze 79
The New Zealand Breakers have found their mojo again.
Inspired by a rejuvenated Kirk Penney with a game-high 24 points and red-hot shooting from CJ Bruton, Corey Webster and Thomas Abercrombie, the Breakers rebounded from back-to-back losses with an emphatic 100-79 win over the Gold Coast Blaze in their Australian
National Basketball League (ANBL) match at Auckland tonight.
After jumping out of the blocks and racing to a 14-1 lead inside three minutes, the Breakers were never threatened as they made the necessary offensive improvements after posting just 57 points in a home loss to leaders Wollongong Hawks last Friday.
The win takes their record to six wins and two losses, though they remain second behind the Hawks in the standings.
Showing the benefits of a rare weekend off to rest, and plenty of time spent on their offensive game this week, the Breakers came out firing tonight with Bruton and Penney both nailing early three-pointers.
They ran into early foul trouble, however, which allowed the Blaze to land eight free throws to only trail 20-27 after the first quarter.
The second quarter almost mirrored the first as the Breakers found their range from both inside and outside the arc, shooting at 57 per cent from the field and 56 per cent from outside.
Penney and Webster both landed three first-half three-pointers to lead the all scorers with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while the Blaze -- themselves coming off three successive losses -- were also hot at times as both teams did remarkably well to disguise the fact they had been the two worst offensive teams in the league.
Just as the Breakers threatened to pull right away, the visitors again rallied late in the quarter and two late three-pointers, together with another seven free throws, closed the home team's lead to 52-41 at halftime.
It was more of the same in the third quarter with Penny posting the points and Alex Pledger and American forward Gary Wilkinson featuring inside, the Breakers stretching their lead to 20 to lead 77-57 after three quarters.
The home team did not let up in the final stanza, ending the match with 54 per cent from the field and an outstanding three-point success rate of 14 from 29.
Guard Paul Henare put the icing on the cake with a buzzer-beating layup to bring up the ton, which meant the crowd left happy with free burgers from the sponsors for everyone.
- NZPA
