Breakers win in Penney's return

Kirk Penney's return to the NZ Breakers line-up was the main story but the returning shooting star had to share some of the spotlight with team-mate Oscar Forman on Thursday night.

Penney, who ended a nine-game lay-off with a lower back injury when he entered the game to start the second quarter, finished with 22 points, while Forman dropped in seven three-pointers in his game-high 23 points as the Breakers defeated the Cairns Taipans 94-77.

The win, largely built on a 14-0 run to start the third quarter and a shooting performance that saw the Breakers (7-6) shot above 50 percent from the field and on three-point attempts, avenged a 77-64 road loss to Cairns (6-9) eight days earlier.

Penney went 8-of-16 from the floor, including 3-of-8 on threes, while Forman made 8-of-13 and added eight rebounds to his impressive stat-line.

Penney slowly worked his way into the game, with five points at halftime. He had only eight points when he re-entered the game with 4:20 remaining and the Breakers up 14 points.

The reigning league MVP dropped 14 points, including a three triples and an old-fashioned three-point play, in a three-minute span to remind the North Shore fans and the rest of the league what had been absent the last eight weeks.

Forman had his own on-fire moment earlier in the second half.

With the Breakers up 44-39 at halftime, Forman came out stroking to open the third period, making three threes during a 14-0 run that put the home side up 58-39 at the 6:02 mark and blew the game open.

Breakers centre Rick Rickert finished with 16 points, six boards and five assists while Tom Abercrombie and Tony Ronaldson, who is now just five points shy of scoring 10,000 in the ANBL, had nine points for the Breakers. With others picking up the scoring slack, point guard CJ Bruton had a quiet night scoring-wise with five points, adding five assists.

Following Forman's lead, the Breakers shot 18-of-34 (53 percent) overall from the perimeter and 34-of-65 (52 percent) from the field.

Two former Breakers led the Taipans, with import Rich Melzer finishing with 19 points and former Tall Blacks guard Phill Jones with 14.

The Breakers, who moved ahead of the Gold Coast Blaze into fourth, host the Wollongong Hawks (7-5) at the North Shore Events Centre next Thursday, tip-off 7pm.

NZ Breakers 94 (Oscar Forman 23, Kirk Penney 22, Rick Rickert 16) Cairns Taipans 77 (Rich Melzer 19, Phill Jones 14, Ian Crosswhite 12). 1Q: 18-17, HT: 44-39, 3Q: 68-52.

- © Fairfax NZ News