Host of Breakers step up despite loss to JackJumpers

Despite the eventual loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers and a rough shooting night, the Sky Sport Breakers fought hard in Launceston on Saturday night with a host of players delivering season best performances.

The Breakers took on the JackJumpers in front of a record NBL crowd of 3532 at The Silverdome in Launceston on Saturday night, and while Tasmania scored the game's last four points to win 66-62, it wasn’t a match without positives for New Zealand.

With Will McDowell-White, Yanni Wetzell and Tom Abercrombie still sidelined, other players were asked to step up for the Breakers and in particular, Rob Loe, Ousmane Dieng, Kyrin Galloway and Chasson Randle did that in spades.

Randle (18 points, four rebounds) and Dieng (17 points, nine rebounds, three assists) both had their best games in Breakers colours. Loe had his most significant game of the season too in Yanni Wetzell's absence with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Galloway is another young player finding his feet in the NBL and he finished with six points, six rebounds and four impressive blocked shots while being the only player in the game to hit multiple three-point shots.

It was a rough shooting night for both teams and the JackJumpers missed their opening 18 three-point attempts before Jock Perry ended the drought. They finished off going 3/27 from beyond the arc but the Breakers also struggled with 5/32.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir was frustrated to lose but couldn’t fault his group's fight.

"It's just the general frustration of losing, losing in bunches and being in this situation for a long time," Shamir said. 

"But at the same time we really fought the fight and were tough, and didn’t have just what we needed in order to finish. Now we can analyse why but we gave it everything we had."

An errant Rob Loe elbow split open Josh Adams' lip to send him to the bench but that ended up working in the JackJumpers' favour early in the game with captain Clint Steindl coming on to hit their first six points.

It was Loe and Ousmane Dieng combining for New Zealand's first 11 points giving them the lead until both MiKyle McIntosh and Jarred Bairstow came on to convert three-point plays.

It was Dieng who was the story of the first term for the Breakers with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists but it was the JackJumpers who led 23-19 by quarter-time having scored the last five points.

Kyrin Galloway opened up the second quarter in style with a three ball for New Zealand before Adams made up for lost time with six quick points for the JackJumpers.

The lead continued to exchange hands the rest of the half and it was a buzzer-beater from Dieng that gave the Breakers the narrow 39-38 advantage at the half.

It was Jack McVeigh and Chasson Randle trading buckets to open the second half but when Finn Delany finished strong for an and-one, the Breakers were up four.

Eventually it was Jock Perry who broke Tasmania's drought from beyond the arc following 18 straight misses, but still by three quarter-time it was New Zealand up 53-50.

Tasmania hit back to open the fourth quarter, though, with the opening six points including the last four to McIntosh. That put them up three before Galloway brought the Breakers back level with his second three-point make of the night.

Jarrad Weeks and McVeigh added the JackJumpers' second and third threes of the game to keep them in front, and then another strong McIntosh three-point play still had them leading by three with just under three minutes to go.

Neither team scored for the almost the entire final 2:41 and both teams jacked up some three balls that didn't come close, but the JackJumpers did enough to win by four.

The Breakers now face the Brisbane Bullets on Hobart on Monday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

SKY SPORT BREAKERS 62 (Randle 18, Dieng 17, Loe 12) 

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 66 (McIntosh 23, Weeks 9, Steindl 9)

BOX SCORE