Taipans 101 Breakers 92
KEY POINTS:
Cairns Taipans confirmed their status as the New Zealand Breakers' bogey team in 2008 with a 101-92 overtime win in their Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) match in Cairns last night.
The Breakers, who trailed for much of the contest at the Cairns Convention Centre, levelled the scores 89-89 with a late charge in the dying minutes but were no match for the hosts in the extra five-minute period.
Led by centre Ian Crosswhite who scored 19 points and hauled in 10 rebounds, the Taipans drew clear with a 12-3 run to beat the Breakers for the second time this month.
Tall Blacks star Kirk Penney led all scorers with 23 points for the Breakers, while guard CJ Bruton had a big second half to end with 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Breakers went into their first away match of the season with a four-win, one-loss record, their only defeat 111-122 to the Taipans at North Shore.
Again the Taipans set the pace before their home crowd, leading 27-21 at the first quarter break and 50-45 at halftime.
The Breakers' first half was punctuated by fouls and turnovers, while their three-point shooting was barely 33 per cent, five from 16. Penney was a one-man band in the first half with 18 points.
It got better in the second half and the Breakers trailed by five going into the final period.
It was a thrilling final stanza of normal time, with the lead seesawing and the Breakers having several chances to seal it.
An Oscar Forman three-pointer saw the Breakers claim an 89-87 lead with 2min 13sec remaining before Cairns' Larry Abney levelled the scores with 1min 19sec left.
After both sides committed turnovers in the final minute, Bruton had the chance to win it for the Breakers with six seconds left but his shot wouldn't drop.
Another Forman three-pointer early in overtime gave the Breakers the lead for the last time before the Taipans took over.
The Breakers committed 27 fouls to 11, with the Taipans scoring 23 of their points from the freethrow line, while the hosts also profited 12-0 in points from turnovers.
It gets no easier for the Breakers who have three more away games in the space of 10 days, starting with the Gold Coast Blaze on Saturday.
Cairns Taipans 101 (Ian Crosswhite 19, Martin Cattalini 17, Dave Thomas 17) New Zealand Breakers 92 (Kirk Penney 23, CJ Bruton 15, Tony Ronaldson 14) in overtime.
Halftime: Cairns 50-45. Fulltime: 89-89.
- NZPA
