NZ Breakers Gone

By Grant Chapman, Pagemasters

Melbourne’s 44-point final quarter finally extinguished the NZ Breakers’ last remaining hopes of another championship, with the Tigers romping home 97-84 at Vector Arena.

Down 14 points after three periods, the visitors erupted down the stretch to leave the titleholders gasping for air and now looking for some hope to carry into next season.

Tigers guard Chris Goulding led all scorers with 27 points, including 17 in that last stanza, while American Scott Morrison had 19 points and Mark Worthington (16 points, 11 rebounds) a double-double.

Reserve guard Corey Webster scored 17 points for the Breakers, with Tom Abercrombie and point guard Kerron Johnson contributing 12 each.

Melbourne had come into the encounter riding a four-game losing streak, after dropping six of their last eight, but quickly dismissed the notion they were on a death slide.

“Everyone has been walking around like we were at a funeral,” said coach Chris Anstey.

“But we’re still in third spot and we’re in that spot because we’re a good basketball team.

“We’ve had a downturn, but there are only two teams ahead of us and we’ve beaten both of them.”

The home team began the game ice cold from the field, missing their first 11 shots before American Gary Wilkinson finally connected from the arc. By then, their deficit was already in double figures.

But with Casey Frank also striking from long distance and Mika Vukona attacking his markers at every opportunity the Breakers closed within a basket by the end of the opening quarter, and edged ahead with a Webster three immediately after the restart.

Worthington kept his side in the contest from the free-throw line, though, and by half-time the margin was still just five points, 46-41.

A key to the Breakers’ rally was Melbourne’s inability to retain possession – they turned the ball over 10 times in the opening 20 minutes and gifted their rivals a 14-0 advantage off those giveaways.

The fouls that provided Worthington’s path to the stripe also had the Breakers frontcourt in trouble. Wilkinson was forced to start the third quarter on the bench with three strikes and moments later, Vukona joined him.

But Worthington suffered his fourth midway shortly afterwards and the Breakers soon stretched their lead deep into double digits off a 13-2 run sparked by Reuben Te Rangi (10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and his bench mates.

Threes from Nate Tomlinson and Lucas Walker (11 rebounds) sparked a 15-2 outburst that got the Tigers within a point early in the final period, and Goulding’s mid-range jumper had them ahead again with the finish line nearing.

“We needed a group in there able to defend,” said Anstey.

“As good as we scored the ball, I thought defensively we were really solid and we rebounded really well,

“We put in our best defensive group of the night and trusted the system.”

Suddenly, the Breakers could not locate the basket and Goulding and Morrison, wearing a LeBron-style face mask, simply cut their opponents to pieces for 18 unanswered points.

“Everyone’s in a bit of disbelief,” reflected Breakers coach Dean Vickerman.

“It’s hard to believe what happened. We talked about this as being our Grand Final – we talked about being a team that enjoyed when things got hard - but in that fourth quarter, we just collapsed.”

Melbourne out-scored their hosts 38-32 in the paint and 30-15 from the free-throw line, even though their rivals attempted 26 more shots from the field.

Melbourne Tigers 97 (Goulding 27, Morrison 19, Worthington 16)
New Zealand Breakers 84 (Webster 17, Abercrombie 12, Johnson 12)

BOXSCORE




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