Basketball: Breakers win in a nail-biter

By DAVE WORSLEY

A good performance by the Breakers in the second match of their double-header against the Cairns Taipans has left coach Jeff Green with a few questions to ponder in the next month.

The Breakers stopped the run of six consecutive losses to score their second win in the NBL, beating the Taipans 93-91 in a physical game at the North Shore Events Centre when just 24 hours before they had lost in Wellington to the same team, 81-61.

The star of the game at North Harbour was Phill Jones with 38 points, but just as pleasing for Green was the initial appearance of Pero Cameron on the court on Friday for a limited time and then again on Saturday for more of an impact off the bench.

"It's good to see the big fella back on the court," Green said.

"He may not score too many, but his experience is invaluable."

Green also praised Lindsay Tait, whose speed around the court created all sorts of problems for the Taipans on Saturday.

Another to receive praise was Iona Enosa, who is standing in for the injured Ben Melmeth.

The good form of Enosa with 14 points, 12 defensive rebounds and 37 minutes of court time could leave Green and the Breakers in a quandary.

At 2.1m Enosa is one of the few big men in the squad.

His value has become such that Green would love to keep him, but he would then have to drop someone else or there would be salary cap concerns.

"That's a big question to ask" when he was approached about keeping Enosa.

"The owners are very clear that they don't want to have salary cap problems. I think I'll leave any thought on that for a couple of weeks," Green said with a wry smile.

The physical nature of the game saw Cameron at his best and included a couple of incidences of eyeballing and plenty of words between players.

Tall Black Tony Rampton was valuable for the Taipans, using his height to good effect and scoring 14 points. But even Taipan top-scorer Anthony Stewart could not match the precision of Jones.

Jones scored 14 of the home side's 26 points in the first quarter as the Breakers trailed 34-26 going into the second 12 minutes. The Taipans then stretched their lead to 47-29 before a 13-point run by the Breakers put them back in the game.

In the third quarter the Breakers hit the lead for the first time and stayed in touch with their opponents, again outscoring the Taipans in a quarter - this time by 26-22 - but finding themselves 71-68 down going into the final 12 minutes.

The lead swung between the teams continuously in the fourth quarter, with the score at 91-90 and under 30 seconds to go.

The Breakers kept their heads as Tait took the ball down the court and passed to Jones to score two points and for Enosa to also sink a foul throw for a final score of 93-91 and a gutsy victory.

Green was extremely happy with the result. "We had dug ourselves a hole at 6-0 in losses, but we found some character. "It was good to get across the line. We played for the full 48 minutes this time."

The Breakers do not play again until November 12 in Brisbane. Their next home game is on Saturday, November 22.