Wetzell stars but Breakers lose in Perth

Yanni Wetzell stood tall for another standout performance for the Sky Sport Breakers but it wasn’t quite enough against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Thursday night.

The Wildcats were looking to bounce back from losing three straight matches in the stadium for the first ever time and while they succeeded with the 89-80 victory, once again it wasn’t a night without positives for the Breakers despite the sixth consecutive defeat.

The Breakers scored first to open the game through Tom Abercrombie but Perth responded for the next seven points. However, triples from Finn Delany and Chasson Randle soon had New Zealand back in front.

While Perth led 19-16 by quarter-time, the last six Breakers points from Wetzell kept the visitors close enough. New Zealand kept battling through the second quarter as well even though the Wildcats extended the half-time lead to 44-36.

Perth then hit the opening six points of the second half but the Breakers were able to steady and when Ousmane Dieng hit a three the margin was back to just eight. Dieng scored again to make it a six-point ball game but by three quarter-time the home team was back up by 10.

The Breakers never gave up the fight and did get back to within seven points a couple of times late, including following a Rob Loe triple, but it wasn’t to be on the night.

Yanni Wetzell continued his outstanding form this season for the Breakers with another standout game made up of 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks on 10/15 shooting from the field.

Hugo Besson played 27 minutes off the bench and put up 15 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds with Peyton Siva adding 12 points, six boards and five assists.

Ousmane Dieng also had another 11 points and three rebounds with Chasson Randle contributing six points, Finn Delany five points and three boards, Will McDowell-White four points, three rebounds and two assists, Rob Loe three points, and Tom Abercrombie two points and four boards.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir obviously would never be satisfied with a loss but did like the effort in a lot of ways from his team.

"We went to the half-time down eight and that happens and obviously to win a game we need to be just a little bit better on a few things," Shamir said. 

"Maybe we need a few less turnovers, pass up a few more shots and get to the paint some more, step up on the out of bounds a little bit less and walk with the ball a little bit less. But overall we played a decent game, we executed and we were good with a lot of the details. 

"The attitude was correct and I think it was a good basketball game. We gave it everything we had and that's something that I hope we'll do for the rest of the season in every game regardless of the result."

The Breakers have some travelling and work to do heading to Bendigo to take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday and the Sydney Kings on Tuesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

SKY SPORT BREAKERS 80 (Wetzell 22, Besson 15, Siva 12) 

PERTH WILDCATS 89 (Law 18, Cotton 16, Blanchfield 13)

BOX SCORE