Basketball: Breakers let Bullets off the hook

SYDNEY - New Zealand Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis was left to lament another crucial clocking-off period by his Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) strugglers as the Brisbane Bullets made hard work of a 115-103 win on Saturday.

After a tough trip to Sydney on Friday, Brisbane's aging starting five looked weary at times in an encounter that New Zealand refused to let the hosts dominate, in their fourth game on the road in nine days.

However, the Breakers, whose win-loss ratio is 6-21, lost their impetus approaching halftime as the Bullets orchestrated a 17-4 run.

Bobby Brannen was at the heart of the blitz and ended with a game-high 34 points and 10 rebounds to give the Bullets their fourth victory over the Breakers this season.

Lemanis lamented his side's sloppy end to the second quarter.

"We were playing pretty well and then they got up and were a bit aggressive and pushed us around and we didn't really have anyone who stood up," Lemanis said of the meltdown before the main break.

The Breakers' American imports did their best to keep the 10th-placed franchise afloat with Rich Melzer nailing 12 points in the final term to claim a well-deserved double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

Brian Green notched 26 points while Australian centre Ben Pepper again rebounded strongly for a game-high 11 boards, though in a repeat of their previous match in Adelaide the Breakers were undone by poor shooting from the foul line, making just 50 per cent of their chances in the first half.

- NZPA