Breakers' road woes continue in Perth

The NZ Breakers continue to hit their road block, seeing their record away from home fall to 0-4 after a 94-74 loss to the Perth Wildcats on Sunday night.

Perth (6-2) produced a sizzling three-point shooting display to consolidate top spot on the Australian NBL ladder as they nailed 14 of their 27 three-pointers to burn the Breakers (4-5), losers of three of their last five games.

Former Breakers import Shawn Redhage scored a game-high 22 points as Perth led throughout and logged their fifth straight win and maintained their perfect home record.

The usually hot-shooting Breakers were held to 26 percent (7-of-27) from long distance and 48 percent from the field, while the most telling stat from the game was rebounding, where the Wildcats, the second-worst rebounding team in the league, out-rebounding the Breakers 42-24.

The Breakers, who return home to face the Wildcats at the North Shore Events Centre on Thursday night, had five players score in double-digits but could not find a regular scorer in the continued absence of reigning league MVP Kirk Penney.

Tony Ronaldson and Rick Rickert both finished with 13 points, while Dillon Boucher, CJ Bruton and Corey Webster all had 10 points for the Breakers, who did manage to out-score Perth 44-36 in the paint despite the presence of big men Luke Schenscher and Jesse Wagstaff. Rickert hauled down eight rebounds and Bruton dropped five assists.

With the loss, the Breakers have fallen from third at the start of round seven to fifth, now two-and-a-half games back of the Wildcats.

Perth Wildcats 94 (Shawn Redhage 22, Stephen Weigh 14, Jesse Wagstaff 13, Luke Schenscher 11, Kevin Lisch 10) NZ Breakers 74 (Tony Ronaldson 13, Rick Rickert 13, Dillon Boucher 10, CJ Bruton 10, Corey Webster 10). 1Q: 28-17, HT: 46-37, 3Q: 75-54.

- © Fairfax NZ News