Basketball: Breakers will learn from loss, says coach

By PETER JESSUP


The Breakers were put out of step by a committed Perth Wildcats in the opening moves of their game yesterday morning and could not establish their rhythm, losing 98-86 to the home team.

It was a physical contest, and the good news was for them to come through injury-free, as the champion Sydney Kings are the next opponents, this Saturday.

The Breakers did a good job on Wildcats star Ricky Grace, keeping him scoreless in the first half and restricting him to a meagre seven points for the game against his career average 19.

That put pressure on someone else to step up, and that someone was fellow guard James Harvey, who shot a game-high and career-high 37.

The Wildcats had lost six games on the trot and a seventh would have been their worst-ever losing streak. They had worked hard on their defence in order to avoid that ignominy, Harvey said.

"It's been tough, everyone's tired, we've had a tough schedule and we thought 'we've just got to lay everything on the line'.

"They're a really tough, physical team," Harvey said of the Breakers. "A few people's eyes got busted open, a few other people are bleeding and cut.

"We just had to do that, every game from now on has got to be like that, we need to scrap, we've got to fight, we've got to knock someone out, we've just got to win somehow."

The Breakers conceded the first eight points and were down 29-15 at the first stop, 58-36 at half time and 73-64 at three-quarter time. They did make a late run, but turnovers cost them at crucial times.

The game turnover count was 24 by the Breakers to the Cats' 15. Each team put up 72 shots, the Cats sinking 35 for a 49 per cent average, the Breakers getting 29 for 40 per cent.

Captain Pero Cameron was ineffective, bagging only one of nine field goal attempts. Mike Chappell again had the most court time and top-scored for them with 24, but the contribution from the rest wasn't big enough as they struggled for the combinations that had served them well in recent games.

"I knew if we gave them a lead they'd be tough to reel in," said Breakers coach Frank Arsego.

"We just didn't have the experience to deal with the ferocity of their game at home - it was a slug-fest from the beginning.

"They got away on us and that gave a team that was short on confidence the boost they needed."

But Arsego said they would be better for the experience of playing a fired-up home side.

"Maybe six weeks ago we could have lost this one by 40 points - I was proud of the way the players fought back."

The result leaves them with a 6-12 win-loss record and ninth place on the ladder.

It gets no easier after Christmas with the Kings, league-leaders with a 15-3 record, at the North Shore Events Centre next Saturday.

They have a three-game road trip to Townsville and Brisbane, then Sydney against the Kings again.

To get them into winning mode for the trip, the Proteam Holdings management has dropped ticket prices for Saturday's game to $5 in a bid to attract a noisy and supportive crowd that will lift the players.

They need the momentum from a home win, because a bad post-Christmas run in Australia could leave them without New Year playoff hopes.