Tigers 94 Breakers 89
The Breakers blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead against the Melbourne Tigers last night to almost certainly extinguish their play-off hopes for 2010.
Leading 77-62 heading in to the final period, the Breakers looked to be well on their way to breaking their three-game losing streak.
But in what has
been the story of their season, their red-hot shooting form fizzled out over the final 10 minutes, producing a string of ugly turnovers to let the Tigers back in the match.
Once the Melbourne side had a sniff the Breakers were powerless to stop the rampage.
The loss leaves the Breakers, who were tipped as title favourites at the beginning of the season, with a very steep ascent in the road to the play-offs.
The New Zealand side need to win at least five of their last six games to have a shot of making the top four and on the evidence of last night's performance, that seems unlikely.
The Breakers made the most of a sloppy start from the visitors, opening out a 7-2 lead in the early stages.
The Kiwi side probably should have led by more had it not been for a couple of ghastly misses from what looked to be straight-forward lay-ups.
The Tigers were further let off the hook when the Breakers gave away a string of fouls, including a dubious charging call on star guard Kirk Penney, and a couple of possessions later, a technical foul on coach Andrej Lemanis.
With the Breakers' discipline letting them down, the Tigers took the lead 15-14 with two minutes remaining in the quarter.
But a timely three-pointer from Oscar Forman, who had looked down on confidence over the past few weeks, swung the momentum back the way of the home side.
Forman's efforts kicked off a remarkable scoring burst of four consecutive treys to finish the quarter, with Tony Ronaldson adding two from the top of the arc, followed by a stunning buzzer beater from point guard CJ Bruton.
Leading 26-18 heading in to the second period, the Breakers' hot shooting streak continued early on, opening with a 9-2 run.
The Tigers' comeback bid rested largely on the shoulders on guard Mark Worthington.
By halftime Worthington led the scoring for his side with 10 points, and seemed to have a hand in most of the Tigers' big plays.
A push and shove between Julius Hodge and Dillon Boucher proved costly for the Breakers, with the veteran swingman earning a spell on the bench having picked up his fourth foul.
Without one of their best defensive weapons on the court, the Breakers' lead was cut to five late in the third period.
Cue another well-timed flurry of three-pointers from Ronaldson, who landed his sixth right on the buzzer to give the home side a 77-62 lead at the final turn.
But that was all to be undone by a stunning fourth quarter comeback from the visitors, with Hodge running riot.