Basketball: Breakers polished off but only just

Breakers 113 Kings 130


There's a cruel joke doing the rounds: What's the difference between the Breakers and the Knights? The Breakers are taller.

It's a reference, of course, to the fact that both teams are buried deep at the bottom of their respective Australian basketball and football leagues and both are struggling to find the net as often as their opponents - a trend which continued as the Breakers slipped to their sixth straight loss, this time against the league-leading Sydney Kings.

However, none of those harsh statistics - nor the joke - reveal how the Breakers pushed the Kings hard for much of the game. It was a performance that must give the struggling team heart when they are able to restore key injured players like Rich Melzer and A.J. Mastrovich to the line-up.

In the end, the Kings just had too much polish in the face of a physical Breakers outfit and bettered them in most of the basic areas except rebounds - with the Breakers too often missing basket opportunities under pressure.

The Breakers put themselves about with spirit that belied their lowly position. They broke up several Kings raids in the first period, with Ben Pepper prominent, and Aaron Olsen delighting the small crowd with regular three-pointers.

Lindsay Tait chimed in with a series of baskets but the Kings weathered the storm and, with CJ Bruton, Luke Kendall and particularly Brad Sheridan dropping in three-pointers and Rolan Roberts moving sweetly, they evened up at 32-32 at the end of the first quarter.

The Breakers kept the pressure up in the second period, with Pepper effective and Brant Bailey becoming more prominent as leading scorer.

But they turned the ball over too many times and the Kings' Ben Knight was working hard at both ends of the court, securing a steal and then finishing the attack in one memorable down-court swoop.

Sheer effort and persistence kept the Breakers in the picture, however, trailing only 64-55 at halftime.

But effort only seldom overpowers ability and the Kings pulled away to a 16-point lead midway through the third period - and were never headed again.

The Kings simply had too many classy performers and wore the Breakers down with their quality, with Bruton always threatening and with the ability to provide a basket when the opposition were pressing.

Jason Smith played a firm hand and, with the likes of Knight and Sheridan, there was simply too much quality too often for the Breakers. The Kings coasted to a victory a little worse than their average 19-point wins this season and the Breakers could take only cold comfort out of a defeat - in spite of all the effort - slightly better than their average 20-point loss this year.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY