New Zealand kept its foot on the gas despite having already wrapped up the NBL minor premiership to cruise to a 109-93 win over playoff hopeful Gold Coast on Thursday night.
In their last regular-season match in Auckland, the defending champions had too much offensive efficiency to go three wins ahead of second-placed Perth.
The result in front of another sellout crowd gave the Breakers a 13-1 home record and also took them to 3-0 in their season series against the Blaze, against whom they have passed 100 points each time.
The two sides are due to meet again in Queensland to close out the round-robin schedule on March 25.
The Blaze, having been on a great run over the second half of the season, have now lost two in a row and are mired in a three-way battle with Townsville and Cairns for two playoff spots.
American import Cedric Jackson was again influential for the Breakers, controlling the play as he produced 12 assists and three steals to go with his nine points.
Top scorer was Tom Abercrombie with 24, while Gary Wilkinson got 20 and Daryl Corletto contributed 18.
The Blaze has six scorers in double figures, led by Anthony Petrie (18) and Adam Gibson (14), but they could not match the Breakers' 58 per cent accuracy from the field.
The home side were in front from virtually the get-go, making light of a high early foul count and being dominated on the boards in the opening quarter.
Their better shooting was in evidence from the start, especially from long range.
CJ Bruton, Leon Henry and Corletto, twice in quick succession, found the mark from beyond the arc as the home side edged into a 23-18 lead at quarter time.
Bruton and Corletto both ended the match with four from six from three-point range.
The Breakers kicked away in the second quarter as their offence moved up a gear.
Up 58-46 at the main break, they did not ease off over the remainder of the contest, with a highlight being Corletto's buzzer-beating running three-pointer to extend the lead to 22 at end of the third quarter.
The Blaze are next away to Adelaide on Sunday, while the Breakers are in action in Townsville on March 23.
AAP
Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, new-zealand, broadbeach-4218, qld, australia First posted March 15, 2012 23:13:40
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