Basketball: The CJ and Wilkinson show

Breakers' star Tom Abercrombie rises high for a slam dunk in last night's game against the Sydney Kings. Picture / Getty Images

Bruton soaks up the adulation of his farewell matches but Big Red is also in doubt

The CJ Bruton farewell tour began with a bang thanks to another player who may be in the final days of his Breakers' career.

Bruton was the one soaking up the adulation in his final game at the North Shore Events Centre - the standing ovations, the blown kisses, the commemorative t-shirts - but it was Gary Wilkinson who really brought the house down.

Wilkinson's 30 points helped the Breakers to a face-saving 106-78 win over the Sydney Kings last night, a victory that ensured the defending champions would avoid the wooden spoon.

After last week bowing out of playoff contention once and for all, the cellar would have been an ignominious, if not entirely undeserved, place for the Breakers (11-16) to find themselves come the end of the campaign.

Instead, their season will wrap against Cairns at Vector Arena next week, an occasion that will mark Bruton's last appearance for the club he turned from stragglers into serial winners. And he might not be alone in saying goodbye.

The status of both imports is under question, even if Wilkinson played like a man who should unquestionably be brought back.

Seeing Sydney at the opposite end aided his cause - having scored 33, 31 and 17 against the Kings this season - and Wilkinson broke open the game with 16 points in the second alone.

Bruton had 14 and Tom Abercrombie chipped in with 14, helping the Breakers overcome the twin efforts of Sam Young (24) and AJ Ogilvy (25).

That looked unlikely early when, for the second straight week, the Breakers started slowly, scoring only six points in the opening six minutes.

Half a dozen points from Abercrombie - including a ferocious one-handed dunk - pulled the home side back into the contest and the two teams ended the period level at 13.

The Breakers quickly broke that deadlock and it was Wilkinson doing the majority of the damage.

His one-man show in the middle of the quarter produced nine straight points for his side, with the big man's total of 18 at the half seeing the Breakers up by two possessions.

Bruton was bound to find form at some point in the evening and that hot streak arrived to begin the third, with his nine consecutive points helping the Breakers establish a double digits advantage.

Young and Ogilvy were combining to help the Kings claw back into the contest, before Corey Webster's buzzer-beater leaving the lead at 11 heading to the fourth. The Breakers never threatened to throw away the game, quickly building an insurmountable 20-point edge.

Breakers 106 (Wilkinson 30, Bruton 14, Abercrombie 14)

Kings 78 (Ogilvy 25, Young 24, Madgen 13) HT: 39-35

APNZ