Basketball: League leaders spoil century celebrations

Wildcats 105 Breakers 88

The Breakers' 100-game party celebrations ended in something of a fizzle last night after they were swamped by league frontrunners the Perth Wildcats.

On an evening when foundation players Paul Henare and Aaron Olson were feted before the tip-off, the Breakers couldn't live up to the occasion and were trounced by a 17-point margin, after being overrun by 23 points in the third quarter.

The win left the Moggies at the top of the Aussie NBL ladder after an unbeaten run of five wins.

There were few silver linings for the Breakers, it was their second loss in the space of a week, and leaving them looking vulnerable after a honeymoon period of three home games.

Wildcats' coach Scott Fisher stuck with his in-form starting five of Paul Rogers, Tony Ronaldson, Shawn Redhage, Darren Brooks and Adam Coporn, and looked to back-up guard Peter Crawford to bolster the back-court.

Breakers' coach Andrej Lemanis was similarly conventional with his line-up, sending in Brian Wethers as the No 2 guard and resisting the temptation to start Olson in the back-court alongside fellow 100-game teammate Henare.

As expected, it was an all-action tussle close to the hoop during the early stanzas; the Breakers shading the Wildcats 21-20 at the first-quarter break courtesy of centre Ben Pepper and forward Carlos Powell, and a couple of sweet jumpers from Oscar Forman.

By halftime, however, Perth had countered on the back of some strong work from forwards Ronaldson, Rogers and Redhage, and some accurate distribution from American guard Brooks; absorbing the early pressure and springing out to a 44-40 lead.

The Breakers suffered what appeared to be a game-deciding lapse in the third quarter of last week's game against the Kings and underwent a similar meltdown last night, falling off the pace after halftime to slump to a 81-64 deficit.

A sobering statistic for the Breakers was that they were outpointed by five points in the second quarter, by 13 in the third, and were 17 points adrift at a timeout early in the fourth.

They now face a double-header on the road against West Sydney and Woollongong, before rushing back home for Wednesday's showdown against Brisbane.