Basketball: Kings on a roll with 4th victory

Kings 99 Breakers 94

The Sydney Kings recovered from a stuttering first half to score their fourth consecutive win of the Aussie NBL last night, beating the Breakers at the North Shore Events Centre.

Having trailed for almost the entire first half, the injury-hampered Kings finally started to find their feet after the break, coming back from a five point deficit to snuff out the Breakers in front of a 2000-strong crowd.

It might not have been quite as pretty as some of the Kings' previous wins this season, but it must have been almost as valuable to coach Brian Goorjian, who has now watched his side score successive triumphs over Brisbane, Adelaide, South Melbourne and the Breakers.

The Kings received maximum value from Californian guard E. J. Rowland, who led all scorers with 30 points, and hard-working contributions at each end of the court from Luke Kendall, and forwards Russell Hinder and Mark Worthington.

Such was the Kings domination after halftime that, by the time the gong sounded for three-quarter break, they had leapt out to a 72-63 advantage, and though pressed down the stretch by a desperate Breakers' outfit, held all the cards in the final moments.

Just as it was in their opening game last week, the Breakers were dealt something of a friendly hand before a pass was thrown; Sydney turning up without inspirational skipper Jason Smith or forward Ian Crosswhite, both of whom were injured.

Even then, Goorjian manage to spring a surprise, leaving American import Rodney Elliot on the bench in favour of a starting five of Hinder, Worthington, David Barlow, Rowland and Kendall.

However, the Kings' brains trust quickly went to the bench when their team fell 10-5 behind during the opening stanzas, pushing in Elliot for Kendall in a bid to stem the early flow of baskets.

The Breakers, on the other hand, went with a conventional starting line-up, with Brian Wethers as the No 2 guard alongside Paul Henare, and Ben Pepper, Oscar Forman and the livewire Carlos Powell in the forward line.

Forman sparked the Breakers' early run, hitting a couple of threes to help extend the lead at one stage to 16-7, and scoring 12 points in his side's 29-25 first-quarter advantage.

But as Sydney continued to struggle for timing, Forman found himself with plenty of support as Pepper, Powell and Henare - among others - made the most of some good shooting opportunities.

Whereas the Breakers hurt the Kings from the perimeter early-on, they found holes in the keyhole during the second quarter, which bench forward Mika Vukona, Aaron Olson and Henare exploited to full advantage.

The New Zealand franchise led 49-44 at halftime, despite losing Wethers for much of the quarter with a bloodied nose.

Sydney's next game is against the Crocodiles at Townsville next Friday, the day before the Breakers are scheduled to begin their away programme in Sydney against the West Sydney Razorbacks.