Breakers get one for the road in Townsville

As far as exclamation-mark dunks go, Tom Abercrombie's alley-oop throw-down on Friday night in Townsville was an emphatic one for the Breakers.

Coming courtesy of a Paul Henare pass, the baseline dunk gave the Breakers an eight-point lead with 1min 26sec left and signalled the end to their futility on the road in the Australian NBL.

Previously 0-5 away from the North Shore, the Breakers got 24 points from point guard CJ Bruton and 18 points from forward Oscar Forman as they pulled out to an 85-73 win over the Townsville Crocodiles at The Swamp.

"It's obviously pleasing to get that first road win but the best thing last night is that we're starting to find our rhythm of play," coach Andrej Lemanis said from Townsville.

"Especially because they came out hot in the first quarter and we could've panicked and got away from our game plan but we didn't.

"We continued to grind it out and go through our plays."

The Breakers trailed 25-14 after the first period, but managed to level the game at halftime, 37-37, after a 23-12 second quarter. They forged ahead by six points with a quarter to play and, although the Crocs cut the lead to four points midway through the final period, the Breakers got key defensive stops and pulled away.

The Breakers (6-6) now head home to face the Cairns Taipans, who defeated them 77-64 in the first game of their North Queensland double-header, on Thursday night.

"We've had some disruptions this season," Lemanis said. "With Kirk Penney out, letting Awvee Storey go and bringing John Rillie in, we haven't been able to settle on anything, so to be 6-6 at this stage is pretty good for us.

"We've been able to hang around enough and get some wins. Hopefully we get Kirk back sooner rather than later and we can get things clicking and make a run in the second half. Obviously, you'd like more wins but with the disruptions we've had, it's pretty good."

- © Fairfax NZ News