Basketball: Breakers on top after comeback victory

Mika Vukona of the Breakers celebrates after dunking the ball. Photo / Getty Images

NZ Breakers 88
Townsville Crocodiles 74

The Breakers were at their hot-and-cold best in beating Townsville at Vector Arena tonight, illustrating their title credentials with a potentially defining comeback.

It seemed as if the Breakers had brought their recent form slide to Vector Arena, with the Crocs leading by as many as 23 points at one stage, but the Breakers stormed back in the second half to secure a precious win and put their title charge back on track.

It was a win that didn't seem possible for much of the first half. Nothing was going right for the Breakers at the offensive end and the Crocs were draining shots with regularity.

The large crowd at Vector were quiet, the players' shoulders were slumping and a third straight loss looked on the cards.

But momentum is a fickle beast, a lesson learned by the Crocs the hard way.

The Breakers of the last week appeared to have shown up during a horror first quarter.

The North Shore-based club couldn't have looked less comfortable in their second home as the Crocs jumped out to a 33-14 lead following the first period.

The Breakers still appeared to be getting their eye in at the new arena but Townsville were having no such problems.

They came into the game with a known threat from deep, but that didn't stop the Breakers from continually leaving the Crocs' shooters open on the perimeter.

Townsville made them pay, successfully hitting six of their first eight attempts from beyond the arc, with forward Jacob Holmes proving particularly deadly with a game-high 21 points.

It led to a very subdued Vector Arena, with the crowd of more than 4500 unsure of what to make of this unfamiliar and impotent Breakers, after the team cruised to a comfortable win over Sydney in their previous game at the downtown venue.

But in the final two minutes of the second quarter the home side finally began to show signs of life, with a Tom Abercrombie three sparking a 7-0 run to pull the home side within 12 at the break. T

hat passage of play brought the crowd to their feet, as they sensed a possible, and much-needed, momentum shift.

That feeling continued in the start to the second half, with two Daryl Corletto threes bringing the gap down to three. Corletto had started in place of the slumping and hurting Bruton, and contributed 16 points.

During this run, it helped the Breakers' prospects immensely that the Crocs' white-hot shooting had apparently gone cold, with the visitors putting only seven points on the board during the 10-minute stretch either side of halftime.

The loudest roar of the night came when Abercrombie - who finished with a team-leading 19 points - profited from a Crocs turnover to cap the comeback and give the Breakers their first lead.

The Crocs hit back with a buzzer-beating three from Holmes to lead by one at the final intermission, and this back-and-forth scoring continued into the fourth quarter, giving the crowd what looked like a nervous conclusion.

But the Breakers' offensive explosion continued, and a Cedric Jackson three gave them an eight-point lead with three minutes left and saw Gary Wilkinson break out his trademark histrionics for the first time in the game.

It was a lead they wouldn't relinquish, sending the crowd streaming out into Auckland city with smiles on their faces and sending the Breakers back to the top of the NBL ladder with a 6-3 record.