Basketball: Bullets crush Breakers

SYDNEY - The Brisbane Bullets ruthlessly avenged the New Zealand Breakers solitary Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) away win with a demoralising 117-77 victory at the Brisbane Convention Centre last night.

The Breakers notched their only road victory of a wretched 7-win 18-loss season against the Bullets early last month but there was never any prospect of a repeat as Brisbane extended the cellar-dwelling New Zealand franchise's losing streak to five.

Needing to win seven of their last eight games to have a sniff of snatching eighth spot from the Hunter Pirates, the Breakers shot a dismal 36 per cent from the field and were dominated on the boards by Daniel Egan and Bobby Brannen, who each snared 14 rebounds.

Trailing by seven at the end of the first quarter, a scoreless six minute period in the lead-up to halftime spelt doom for the Breakers who faced a 20 point halftime deficit.

Brisbane then twisted the knife to hold an impregnable 32-point advantage (89-57) entering the home stretch.

The Breakers, narrow one-point losers to the Melbourne Tigers on Sunday, never threatened to reproduce a similarly gutsy performance.

"It's very disappointing that we haven't been able to kick on from Sunday," coach Frank Arsego said.

"We gave it to them too easily. We couldn't match their desire and they forced us into so many errors.

"In the second quarter opened us up and the turnover count went through the roof. "

Arsego, who faces an uncertain future when the season ends, admitted the team lost their way badly.

"It's one of the first times this season we've capitulated in this manner. We're usually pretty feisty and fight back but (last night) we couldn't get our head around it. "

The Breakers stepped up to free throw line just four times in the first half but found themselves in trouble at the other end of the court after Pero Cameron and top-scorer Mike Chappell (16) got in early foul trouble.

They both saw out the match though Cameron, who is troubled by an Achilles injury, scored is functioning at less than optimum.

"He's not 100 per cent and we can only get 20-25 minutes max out of him," Arsego lamented.

The Breakers need to drag themselves off the floor to face the Pirates in Newcastle on Friday. The road trip ends in west Sydney on Saturday when they will attempt to sweep the Razorbacks 3-0.

"The reality is we need to capture the next two games or (play-offs) are gone for good.

Brisbane Bullets 117 (Bryant Matthews 30, Bobby Brannen 17, Daniel Egan 14)

New Zealand Breakers 77 (Mike Chappell 16, Ben Pepper, Pero Cameron, Aaron Olson 12)

Halftime 53-33.

- NZPA