Breakers back in the winners circle
The New Zealand Breakers pulled their NBL season back on track by holding out the Brisbane Bullets in Auckland.
The Breakers broke a four-game losing streak to notch their second win 111-106, despite nearly squandering a big first-half lead at the North Shore Events Centre.
The Bullets slipped to a 3-3 record after successive losses and coach Joey Wright kept his team back late in the dressing room after the game to reflect on the outcome.
Brisbane guard CJ Bruton downed seven three-pointers for a game high 27 points in a losing effort while his opposite number Paul Henare shot 24 in a man-of-the-match performance.
The Breakers led by as much as 19 points midway through the second quarter before a third-quarter meltdown that's becoming increasingly familiar to their fans nearly cost them the game.
A see-sawing last quarter looked like going down to the wire until the home side found some composure to obtain a match-winning advantage.
"The thing I liked was I never saw panic from the guys," Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said.
"They all just kept their heads and stuck to the task.
"That win tonight just affirms the fact that we are a bloody good team - as a team we need to believe that and continue to grow."
Wright said his side had needed to do a bit of soul searching after the game.
"(The Breakers) played with a lot more effort and a lot more intensity than we did and I think that made the difference," he said.
"We have some stuff on the table that we need to work on."
Shooters on both sides found the hoop regularly outside the arc in a high-scoring first quarter in which the Breakers got the better of Brisbane and grabbed a 30-23 lead.
The New Zealand side hit a purple patch in the second quarter, surging to that 19-point advantage as the Bullets were frustrated at the other end of the court.
Bruton was missing shots he'd normally nail but his team regrouped to put on four unanswered scores, eventually pegging the margin back to single figures.
After a couple of time-outs, the Breakers stopped the rot and made the last two scores inside halftime to take a 60-48 lead into the long break.
New Zealand struggled to get a clean shot around the basket in the third quarter and successive three-pointers to Mick Hill and Stephen Black got the Bullets in front for the first time in the game.
The Breakers recovered some shooting form to be up 82-81 at three-quarter time.
They extended the lead to five points early in the last stanza before a resurgent Bruton nailed two shots outside the arc to get it back.
The Breakers got on top as the clock wound down but three-point shots by Bruton and Hill kept the Bullets in touch.
But two Brisbane fouls against Henare midcourt allowed the home side to take an unassailable lead and avoid any late disasters.
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