Basketball: Jekyll and Hyde Breakers bow to Pirates

The New Zealand Breakers were last night described as Jekyll and Hyde basketballers after slumping to an unprecedented 10th straight loss in the Australian National Basketball league (ANBL).

The Hunter Pirates became the latest team to benefit from the Breakers' tendency to change their demeanour from lethargic to lethal when too late as the hosts exploded out of the blocks to eventually notch a 117-102 victory at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre last night.

The Pirates blew their opponents away with a 71-point blitz to lead by 29 at halftime, and cruised to victory despite being outscored 60-46 in the final two quarters.

Frustrated Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said the performance typified their season.

"It has been a little bit how our team has been all year, like Jekyll and Hyde," Lemanis said.

"The is the most frustrating part about it. If you sat there and said we are not good enough, then I could accept that.

"But to come out and play like we did in the second half, it shows that we are good enough.

"We are not getting the results which we deserve with this group. We need to find a way to play mentally for 48 minutes."

Australian forward Ben Pepper, who marked his 50th appearance with a strong double-double (27 points and 12 rebounds) agreed with his coach's appraisal.

Pepper said New Zealand was a better side than their winless (0-10) record on the road indicated.

"We're not that bad. We don't believe we're as bad as our record suggests.

"It just seems that we need something to trigger us to play hard, we need to go behind by 20 or 30 to start playing hard," he said.

The Kiwis opened the scoring through a Pepper three-point play but Hunter immediately took control of the game, scoring the next 14. Led by sweet-shooting Aaron Trahair, the Pirates ended a one-sided first term leading 35-22.

The Breakers woes deepened, with centre Tim Behrendorff ejected from the game for a second unsportsmanlike foul as Hunter stretched the margin beyond 20.

American import Brant Bailey tried to lift the visitors with 14 points for the second quarter, but with Mike Helms finding the net regularly with 16 of his own, the Pirates ended the first half with the win all but wrapped up at 71-42.

The Breakers scored the first 10 points of the second half and looked a far better team in the third period, shooting at greater than 56 per cent to trim the deficit by 12 (75-92).

The visitors continued to close the gap with a spirited final quarter performance, but the result was set in stone.

Bailey was outstanding for the Breakers, scoring a game-high 37 points and pulling down eight rebounds.

Pirates coach Adrian Hurley was pleased with the result but would have preferred his side to maintain their intensity in the second half.

"To get 29-up at halftime, you know you are probably not going to lose, but we could have finished it off better than we did," he said.

"You hope it will blow out to 35 points then the game is all over, but we let them score the first eight points of the third quarter and get back in it."

Trahair hit five three-pointers in his 35-point haul for the Pirates, while Helms contributed 32 and former Breaker Ben Melmeth hit 21 and snaffled seven rebounds.

Hunter (7-10) hosts the West Sydney Razorbacks on Friday night, while the cellar dwelling Breakers have a two-week rest before taking on the Brisbane Bullets at home on Sunday week.

The Breakers have not won since an 86-77 triumph over Wollongong in Auckland on October 9.

- NZPA