New Zealand Breakers’ winning streak snapped by South East Melbourne Phoenix

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The New Zealand Breakers saw their three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night, falling 92-80 to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

The damage was done by Phoenix captain Nathan Sobey, the Australian producing an explosive, season-high, 36-point masterclass that included seven three-pointers to sink the visitors.

The Phoenix are the most prolific three-point shooting team in the league and made 14 from 41 from beyond the arc, shooting at 34%.

The fixture was held out in the Australian regional basketball heartland of Traralgon, a town in Victoria’s Gippsland region situated about two hours east of Melbourne.

Despite out-rebounding the Phoenix 54-42, the Breakers could not capitalise on their extra possessions. While the hosts shot the lights out, the Breakers’ offence stagnated, converting just five of 24 attempts from beyond the arc.

Rob Baker II was the exception, the forward making three of his five attempts from long range as his 16 points carried him beyond the 200 points mark for the season. Fellow American import Parker Jackson-Cartwright also scored 16 points, the diminutive point guard coming up with nine rebounds to accompany six assists.

Tai Webster scored 10 points, fellow Kiwi Sam Mennenga tallied nine points and nine rebounds while the normally efficient Izaiah Brockington (US) and Karim López (Mexico) combined for just five from 21 shooting for 12 and eight points, respectively.

Despite a confused start that saw Kiwi Rob Loe accidentally take the court with the starters, Mennenga opened the scoring with a corner three for the Breakers.

A couple of scores from Webster gave the Breakers an 18-17 advantage, but back-to-back threes from danger man Sobey gave the Phoenix a 26-20 lead after 10 minutes.

Baker and Jackson-Cartwright combined for the first six points of the second period to tie proceedings until the Phoenix quickly retook the lead and held the advantage until a Webster drive and finish put the Breakers ahead 39-37.

Sobey had the final say of the half; the only player in double figures (16 points) carried the hosts to a 44-41 lead.

Despite Baker making a triple, the Phoenix reeled off 18 points in four minutes to establish a 62-51 advantage in the third quarter. Carlin Davison registered his first points, but it was a period in which the Phoenix made six triples, and they were in a strong position at three-quarter time with a 71-62 lead.

The task became insurmountable early in the fourth as Sobey drained his sixth triple, extending the deficit to 13 points and forcing a timeout from the Breakers’ Finnish coach Petteri Koponen. Young star López provided a spark with back-to-back scores on the resumption, but the visitors were unable to threaten a late charge.

While competitive in many facets of the game, particularly dominating the rebound count, the Breakers ultimately could not overcome the Phoenix’s perimeter precision or the energy of the partisan home crowd at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon. The unique regional atmosphere provided a distinct home-court advantage that the Phoenix leveraged to close out the contest 92-80.

The Breakers must now regroup as their road trip intensifies with a further three away games. They head north to face the Cairns Taipans on December 19, followed by the Brisbane Bullets (December 22) and a Boxing Day clash with the Tasmania JackJumpers. The team finally returns to Spark Arena on January 4 to host the Perth Wildcats.

Breakers 80 (Rob Baker II 16 points, Parker Jackson-Cartwright 16, Izaiah Brockington 12, Tai Webster 10).

South East Melbourne Phoenix 92 (Nathan Sobey 36 points, Jordan Hunter 12, Hunter Maldonado 10, John Brown III 10).