Basketball: Breakers show heart without Penney

Thomas Abercrombie scores last night for the Breakers. Photo / NZPA

Breakers 79
Tigers 74

The Breakers overcame the absence of star shooting guard Kirk Penney to grind out a come-from-behind victory over the Melbourne Tigers on the North Shore last night.

It was a landmark victory for the Breakers, who had lost all three previous games without Penney.

For much of the night, such a result looked unlikely as the home side struggled at both ends of the court and slid to a 14-point deficit mid-way through the third quarter.

But a stirring defensive lockdown and a 32-point outburst from CJ Bruton turned the tables on the Tigers.

"When we play the D it lifts our intensity at both ends and I think we did a good job," back-up point guard Paul Henare said.

Henare was a key figure in the comeback, playing much of the second half at the point, with Bruton slipping into Penney's usual shooting guard role.

A season-best performance from Rick Rickert, who contributed 16 points and eight rebounds, and stand-out defensive displays from Thomas Abercrombie and Dillon Boucher also helped turn the tide.

"We got a good unit out there, we got up the floor and we got some good turnovers," Henare said.

"That is what we want to be known as - a defensive team that can score as well.

"If we keep playing along those lines we'll do pretty good this year."

The victory maintained the Breakers' unbeaten home start and levelled their season ledger at 2-2, but most importantly it showed they can win without Penney.

"Kirk is a huge part of our team with that scoring punch but CJ showed his class tonight," Henare said.

"He made some big shots for us. It is about other guys stepping up. We don't know how long [Penney] is out for so we'll just stick to it."

The news on Penney isn't overly encouraging. Scans have revealed a disk injury that will almost certainly rule him out of trip to Wollongong a week tomorrow, and potentially much longer.

As encouraging as last night's victory was, it was far from flawless. For large stretches the defence was poor, while Bruton's late surge somewhat disguised another poor offensive night, and import Awvee Storey struggled.

The result came against a Tigers side that was also short-handed, with Nathan Crosswell and Tommy Greer joining long-term absentee Chris Anstey on the injured list.

The Tigers led by five at quarter-time and extended the margin to 12 mid-way through the second quarter before a burst of five points from Oscar Forman helped the Breakers close to 30-39 at halftime.

Little changed at the start of the third period and it seemed the Breakers were sliding to defeat with barely a whimper.

But they closed the quarter with an 18-6 run to pull within two and Bruton quickly took control in the final quarter.