The New Zealand Breakers left it late but scored a gutsy 98-92 overtime win over Melbourne United at Hisense Arena on Friday night.
After a roller-coaster last quarter in which either side could have taken the win, Melbourne looked in better shape as they took a late lead in theovertime before Rob Loe and Thomas Abercrombie made sure of the maiden away win in front of 5,743 Melbourne supporters.
Kyle Adnam led Melbourne with 19 points while Tai Wesley had 17 points, while Alex Pledgers 20 points and 10 rebounds led the Breakers with Kirk Penney and Thomas Abercrombie scoring 17 each.
Melbourne went into the game without injured stars Chris Goulding and Todd Blanchfield while the Breakers lost import guard Ben Woodside to an apparent ankle injury late in the game. Woodside had to be assisted from the court.
Penney and Corey Webster were both on target early for the Breakers while Akil Mitchells powerful one-hand dunk was a highlight as they took a dominant 27-13 lead late in the first term.
But Kyle Adnams entry gave United a burst of inspiration as he nailed a three-pointer on the quarter-time buzzer to cut the margin to 27-17, and continued to burn in the opening of the second term scoring nine quick points as Melbourne caught up to the Breakers.
David Andersens jump hook and the foul put Melbourne in front but Mitchell and others would make sure they took a 41-40 lead into half-time.
NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 98 (Pledger 20, Abercrombie 17, Penney 17)
MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (Adnam 19, Wesley 17, Moore 13)
- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Basketball New Zealand
