NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 100
CAIRNS TAIPANS 78
KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Breakers kept their Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) title dream alive with a stunning 100-78 away victory over Cairns tonight.
Inspired by leading scorer Kirk Penney, with a game-high 30 points, and big contributions from veterans Tony Ronaldson and Derrick Alston, the Breakers booked a trip to Brisbane for another knockout playoff on Saturday.
It was the Breakers' first playoff appearance in their five years of existence but they rocked the Taipans with a 55-30 second half to silence the 5000-plus Cairns Convention Centre crowd.
They led 75-66 going into the final 12 minutes on the back of a watertight defence and the elimination quarterfinal was theirs to lose.
It got better as they stretched the lead to 20 points with five minutes left, and it was all over as they notched their second big win in Cairns this season.
Now the Breakers fly to Brisbane needing to produce another upset over the defending champions, to book a three-match semifinal against the Melbourne Tigers.
Alston added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and fellow import Orien Greene 17 points and four steals.
Livewire Cairns guard Stephen Black had a red-hot first half but was kept under wraps thereafter to end with 20 points, just two of them in the second half.
The Taipans were clear pre-match favourites, chasing a third consecutive visit to the semifinals, having reached the playoffs in four of the past five years.
The Breakers started strongly and raced to a nine-point lead in the opening quarter thanks to solid defensive work, particularly on Taipans giant dangerman Nathan Jawai who ended with just four points.
Former Australian international Ronaldson, playing a remarkable 80th ANBL playoff match, could hardly run on his strained achilles tendon but was a huge presence.
By halftime he had five rebounds and five assists and he continued to marshall the troops in the second half.
Cairns fought back in a seesawing second quarter thanks to Black who nailed 18 first half points including four three-pointers.
Cairns led by three points at halftime as the Breakers rued 10 first half turnovers in a sometimes shaky offence.
Then Penney and Alston, prominent at both ends of the court, sparked the Breakers after the main break as they went on a 10-0 run to grab a 63-53 lead against a rattled home side whose offence went cold.
The Breakers seized control in the third quarter, Penney adding 12 points to take a handy nine-point advantage into the final period.
- NZPA
