The New Zealand Breakers out-shot and out-rebounded the Adelaide 36ers on the way to a dominant 80-63 win in their NBL match in Auckland.
In their first home game of a four-match stretch, the Breakers ratcheted up the pressure as Friday's game progressed, winning every quarter but the last for a victory which underlined their position at the top of the table.
Tom Abercrombie led the way with 22 points, backed up by Gary Wilkinson (17) and Cedric Jackson (12), while Chris Warren fronted for Adelaide with 14, and Stephen Weigh chipped in with 10.
The Breakers' win came on the back of a superb defensive team effort.
Led by Mika Vukona, Dillon Boucher and Alex Pledger, the New Zealand team out-rebounded Adelaide 50-24, dominating the boards at both ends.
Coach Andrej Lemanis worked his bench hard to build on a 26-26 first-quarter lead, keeping the Breakers' momentum rolling in the second spell as they took a 43-30 lead into halftime.
The Breakers lost their way early in the third quarter, some disjointed play and messy shooting offering Adelaide a brief glimpse of hope as they narrowed the deficit to nine four minutes into the spell.
However, a couple of key assists and a brace of lay-ups from Jackson coupled with a Wilkinson three-pointer wrested the momentum back to the home team, and they went into the three-quarter break leading 65-46.
The Breakers struggled for fluency in the final spell, but although Adelaide took the quarter 17-15, the end result was never in doubt.
It has been almost a month since the 36ers recorded a win, with losses to the Breakers, Cairns Taipans, Sydney Kings and Gold Coast seeing them plummet down the table as five wins from 16 games leaves them languishing in eighth place.
Perth maintained top spot on the NBL ladder with an emphatic 92-80 win over Gold Coast at Challenge Stadium in Perth on Friday night.
Jesse Wagstaff continued his recent hot run of form with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting in just under 22 minutes to lead a Wildcats team that took control after a tight first quarter.
The win improves Perth to a 12-5 record, while the Blaze now sit on a 6-8 record and have a short turnaround before facing Melbourne on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Cairns Taipans dealt the Wollongong Hawks another close loss on Friday night, the Queenslanders winning 61-59 in Wollongong.
Andrew Warren drained a go-ahead triple with just over a minute to play and Cairns held on when Rhys Martin's corner three sailed long on the buzzer.
"Things are extremely tough, obviously everyone is working so hard to try and get that win and give our fans something to cheer about," Hawks coach Gordie McLeod said.
AAP
Tags: sport, basketball, new-zealand First posted January 13, 2012 21:49:19
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