Basketball: Breakers suffer eighth heartbreak on the trot

The Breakers' Aaron Olson drives around Paul Rogers of the Wildcats yesterday. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Perth 95 Breakers 74

The Breakers slumped to their eighth loss in a row yesterday, going down in a second consecutive defeat to the Perth Wildcats.

This time their horror quarter was the last, when they took five minutes to score and slipped from a five-point margin at the last break, 67-62, to a 21-point deficit at the end.

Signs at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau echoed an old rugby slogan, "Bring Back Dillon" and "With Dillon We're Winnin", and there is much merit to that argument: his stats in the double-header for Perth at the weekend were better than that of his replacement AJ Majstrovich, though the latter has just returned from injury.

Perth's two-up win, with Shawn Redhage prominent yesterday and in the 109-93 result on Friday, raises questions about the Breakers' player selection.

The Breakers looked smart early on, with better passing co-ordination and score-assists than usual, and they had a first-quarter lead for the first time in a while, 23-22.

Aaron Olson's three-pointers kept them in the game in the second period but Perth's Matt Shanahan equalled his success and the Cats led 47-44 at the main break.

The Breakers were rebounding well but Perth's accuracy rate in scoring was well up. It was a one-to-two-point ball game for the third quarter, with former Breaker Redhage finishing with the last field goal and then Peter Crawford adding free throws for a five-point lead.

The Breakers failed to fire in the last 12 minutes, Olson getting their first points from the penalty line after five minutes and from there it was catch-up.

Their import problem remains unresolved, the injured Rich Melzer looking unlikely to return in time to make any difference to their season, Brant Bailey loose on defence in a team that desperately needs some and returning just nine points and one rebound in 32 minutes yesterday, and new signing Brian Green still an unknown factor after collecting three fouls before his first points, his return just four and two rebounds in 17 minutes.