Basketball: Season wrapped up with strong effort

Melbourne Tigers 108
NZ Breakers 94

The Breakers finished their season with a strong effort against the title favourites, Melbourne, but just didn't have a response to the class of Tigers centre Chris Anstey, who lifted the visitors to victory.

Tigers coach Al Westover credited the Auckland side with giving his team the best possible lead-up to the play-offs.

"No team in the league plays harder than the Breakers."

Anstey's experience and ability in stepping up to deliver killing three-pointers and his destructive work in making crucial blocks in defence made the difference at Trusts Stadium on Saturday night.

Rich Melzer was the star of the first half, with 25 points by the main break.

The Breakers were playing hard and fast. They improved all their shooting stats from the earlier victory to the Tigers on Wednesday night.

The visitors felt the heat at times, and the pressure forced them to call time-outs to stop home team runs. But turnovers cost the Breakers, as did the inability to break the Tigers' taller defence.

"We gave it a crack," said Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis, "but we turned it over too easily in the first half and that kept them in the game."

By the third quarter the effort was telling on the home team, and the Tigers began to dominate inside the arc, pushing out to a lead that stayed in the teens for the rest of the game.

But the Breakers' enthusiasm never faltered and a good-sized crowd responded to that, providing plenty of support as the last minutes ran down with multiple players on both sides nearing the fouls limit.