Breakers make United earn it in Hobart

A combined 39 points from Jeremiah Martin and Peyton Siva along with plenty of other encouraging performances meant the Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers pushed the defending champions all the way on Friday night, but ultimately Melbourne United prevailed 89-78.

With Martin and Siva delivering the type of performances even coming off the bench that suggest they will settle into being big time players for the Breakers this season, New Zealand started well and was on top of Melbourne most of the first half.

Fresh off their first win of the season and playing at their home away from home now in Hobart at MyState Bank Arena, the Breakers were still on top by a point at half-time. Even though Melbourne overpowered them in the second half, there was plenty to like from a New Zealand perspective.

Both Siva and Martin came off bench, but each played over 30 minutes for the Breakers and were impressive. Siva finished with 19 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals with Martin finishing with 20 points on 8/13 shooting including a perfect 4/4 from three-point territory.

Hugo Besson had his moments too for the Breakers ending the night with 17 points with Finn Delany finishing with eight points and four rebounds, Yanni Wetzell seven points and eight boards, Ousmane Dieng three points, two rebounds and two assists, Will McDowell-White two points, three rebounds and three steals, and Rob Loe two points.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir felt giving up 18 offensive boards while only collecting six themselves and 25 total rebounds for the night was pivotal in the end result.

"Melbourne United is doing a good job on the defensive end. My feeling is you need to win games like that with 78 points. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which makes it tough," Shamir said.

"It is hard to be happy when you lose. I am struggling to be happy even when you win. The positive is this is second game in a row we have Peyton. 

"It wasn’t a perfect game today. The challenge keeps on growing but the team is functioning well. That is hats off. Everywhere I have been I don’t know a lot of places that would survive this, but we are. This is what we keep focusing on, the results. Even though they are not coming. We keep pushing on."

Meanwhile, it was a fifth consecutive win for Melbourne with captain Chris Goulding reaching 5000 career points by leading the way with 23 on the back of going 4/8 from downtown. Jo Lual-Acuil added 22 points and 12 rebounds.

The Breakers were fresh off their first win of the season in Brisbane against the Bullets on Sunday, and got off to a good start with Frenchman Hugo Besson draining an early three-pointer.

New Zealand maintained touch with Melbourne soon after when Finn Delany also connected from beyond the arc before Peyton Siva hit the floor and it didn’t take him long to hit a three ball of his own.

Siva hit another three as did Jeremiah Martin before Siva scored at the rim again to continue his hot start and give the Breakers a narrow lead with a minute left in the opening quarter.

New Zealand ended up leading 22-21 by quarter-time and then a couple of free-throws to start the second period from Besson extended that lead to three. Five quick points to Martin as well kept the Breakers on top early in the second term as did a Yanni Wetzell throwdown.

Delany helped stretch New Zealand's lead to four before a three-point play from Wetzell saw it grow to five, but Melbourne fired back and cut the Breakers lead to 39-38 by the major break.

Siva maintained his tremendous form from the first half with two big threes to open the second half before Martin joined in the fun also connecting from beyond the arc as he hit his first four three-point attempts of the night.

When he also scored inside the arc, the Breakers were still leading by three midway through the third quarter but it didn’t take long for the lead to continue to change hands.

New Zealand regained a two-point lead with a three to Ousmane Dieng but it was Melbourne going into three quarter-time with a 65-60 edge.

It was Martin's turn to catch fire with a couple of quick buckets to open the fourth quarter to keep the Breakers within striking distance, but it wasn’t quite to be on this night with United going on to record the 11-point win that the Breakers certain did make them earn.

Round 7 continues on Sunday for the Breakers against the Sydney Kings in Sydney before returning to their home away from home in Tasmania to take on the Tasmania JackJumpers on Wednesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7

SKY SPORT BREAKERS 78 (Martin 20, Siva 19, Besson 17)

MELBOURNE UNITED 89 (Goulding 23, Lual-Acuil 22, Agada 16)

BOX SCORE