Basketball: Breakers still in playoffs hunt

Craig Bradshaw attempts to get past Rick Rickert during the NBL match between the New Zealand Breakers and the Gold Coast Blaze. Photo / Getty Images

An inspired effort from the three-point line saw the New Zealand Breakers take a big step towards the Australian National Basketball League playoffs with a 109-94 win against Gold Coast Blaze in Auckland tonight.

Needing victories in their last two matches to have even a chance of making the top four, the Auckland-based franchise made it five wins in a row in a hard-fought and often fiery encounter at North Shore Events Centre.

The Breakers started strongly, and thanks to some impressive outside shooting, led 29-16 at the end of the first quarter as Oscar Forman, Kirk Penney, CJ Bruton and Kevin Braswell all contributed with three-pointers.

However, the Blaze battled back and narrowed the gap at halftime as the Breakers struggled to maintain cohesion and led 53-50 at the break.

Led by an outstanding performance from Kirk Penney, whose game-high 26 included three three-pointers, the Breakers sunk 16 of their 26 attempts from out wide.

With the Blaze also running hot from the three-point line -- they sunk 10 from 23 -- the Breakers eased out fractionally in the third quarter to lead 81-75 with 10 minutes remaining.

In contrast to earlier in the season, the fourth quarter proved the winner for the New Zealand team, as they maintained composure to shut out the third-placed Blaze for a vital win.

Penney apart, the Breakers' scoring was evenly shared, with veteran Tony Ronaldson, Forman, Bruton, Braswell and Dillon Boucher all reaching double figures.

In his final home game, Ronaldson contributed a brace of three pointers in his 11 in front of a rapturous home crowd, also pulling down three rebounds.

An added bonus came with the margin of the win, as the Breakers needed to beat the Blaze by eight points or more to claim a 2-2 split series on countback.

The Breakers now head back across the Tasman for a Saturday night meeting with Cairns, who are out of playoff contention. However, even if they get past those hurdles, they still need other results to go their way.

- NZPA