Basketball: Subdued Breakers come a crocker

Kevin Braswell landed eieght three-pointers. Photo / AP

The new year went out with anything but a bang for the Breakers but, the way they look at it, the big party is in April and May when the playoffs happen.

The table-topping Breakers were well beaten 96-79 by a fired-up Townsville Crocodiles on Friday night, condemning them to just their third loss of the season.

Although they recovered in the final quarter, largely thanks to a game-high 32 points from American import Kevin Braswell who landed eight three-pointers, they were left with too much to do after trailing by 29 points at the end of the third quarter. Gary Wilkinson (15) and Kirk Penney (12) were the only other Breakers in double-figures.

Paul Henare said they were too flat for the match and couldn't dig themselves out of the hole.

"Townsville came out firing and for whatever reason we couldn't get ourselves back into the match," he said.

"There are no concerns for us. One of the good things about this team is that there are a number of cool heads in it. We're not going to get too carried away with the highs and too down on the lows.

"People said we wanted to finish the year on a high but, for us, the calendar year doesn't mean anything. It's the middle of the season. The big party for us comes in April and May.

They travel to the Adelaide 36ers on Saturday before their next home game on January 13 against the second-placed Cairns Taipans but there will be real concerns around the fitness of shooting guard CJ Bruton. The Australian injured his elbow in training before the Townsville match and played six minutes on Friday night before succumbing to the injury.

One thing the Breakers have shown, however, is real depth in their squad.

Elsewhere, Adelaide beat Wollongong 98-83, Perth pipped Gold Coast 96-93, while the Taipans ground out a 60-48 win over the Sydney Kings.