BNZ BREAKERS LATE FIGHT BACK IN VAIN IN OPEN AIR THRILLER

The BNZ Breakers narrowly missed a two from two start to NBL27, going down in a final play thriller 80-83 against the Brisbane Bullets in the first open air game played in the state of Queensland last night (NZT).

The BNZ Breakers may rue one that got away, having dominated the opening 25 minutes of the game but were made to pay for a poor finish to the third quarter, letting an 11-point lead slip to a two-point deficit heading into the final 10 minutes.

Rebounding hurt the Breakers most, giving up 15 offensive boards and too many second chance looks for the Bullets, many of which they capitalised on from deep.

Despite going behind late in the third quarter and trailing for the majority of the fourth, the BNZ Breakers found ways to stay in the contest and levelled it up in the final two minutes but couldn’t find a crucial basket in the dying moments to silence the capacity crowd at Pat Rafter Arena.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright did all he could for the BNZ Breakers, with 26 points and seven assists on 6/15 three-point shooting including two missed attempts at the end that could have forced overtime.

DJ Vasiljevic went 4/6 from the outside for 17 points with Sam Mennenga adding 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Mojave King 11 points and two assists.

Coach Gordie Herbert spoke of the effort of his team as they repeatedly reduced the deficit in the final quarter, only to come up one basket short.

“For 25 minutes we played really well, then we had a really down time, we were up by 10 or 11 and actually went down by 7. But give our players credit, they never gave up, they fought back and we had a chance to win.

“This is September, our effort was good, but we are in September still and have a lot of work to do on the basketball stuff. The guys are working really hard and played good on the road for 25 minutes and controlled the tempo of the game but had a bad spurt.”

The team now travels straight to Perth to prepare to face the Wildcats on Saturday night, before returning home for their first Ignite Cup game of the season on Wednesday September 30 against the Cairns Taipans at Spark Arena.

Brisbane Bullets 88
Arnas Velička – 23 points, 14 assists, 5 rebounds, Tyrell Harrison – 22 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, Nate Hinton – 14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, MaxMackinnon – 9 points, 7 rebounds, Jaylin Williams – 6 points, 4 rebounds

NZ Breakers 85 
Parker Jackson-Cartwright – 26 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds; DJ Vasiljevic – 17 points, 4/6 3PT; Sam Mennenga– 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists; Mojave King – 11 points, 2 assists; CharlesBediako – 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists

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