Breakers leave home in good shape

The New Zealand Breakers are preparing to leave home for the first time in the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) after almost rolling out the welcome mat for a winless Gold Coast Blaze last night.

The table-topping Breakers may have won 120-108 at the North Shore Events Centre but the victory margin was deceptive, given it took three-pointers from Phill Jones and CJ Bruton inside the last two minutes to give the favourites some belated breathing space.

Their accuracy from beyond the arc was complemented by some muscular defence - a combination that eventually snuffed out the resistance of a team that played more combatively than their 0-6 record suggests.

For 58 minutes the Breakers struggled to quell the competition's worst offence though notably when it counted the league's frontrunners stepped up to end their sequence of home games with a 4-win 1-loss record.

"It was a mixed bag," admitted forward Dillon Boucher.

"The good thing was we finished the game great, we finally showed the defence we can play."

On the back of Jones and Bruton - easily the roster's most accurate shooters from the field - the Breakers constructed a 10-2 run to demoralise the undermanned cellar-dwellers.

"Gold Coast just hung around and hung around, we couldn't shake them," said Boucher, who led the Breakers rebound count with eight.

"At the end we knuckled down and did the job to close the game down.

"We had each other's back. It's good we can do that in the fourth quarter but against the top teams it's going to be a lot harder.

The Breakers led from the opening minute but were never truly in command until the dying stages, not that Boucher was concerned the team would pull through.

"If we're close when it comes down the stretch we're confident we can win the game, we showed composure down the stretch."

Despite Gold Coast's losing streak - and the absence of injured forward Scott McGregor - Breaker coach Andrej Lemanis anticipated a challenging night, especially after feeling he had not struck the right chords during training.

"We had an interesting week at practice. A lot was made of us losing last week (against Cairns Taipans) and I think I got a little too stressed with the guys.

"That transferred a bit of tension into the group - I'm pleased they came out well and performed."

The Breakers maintained their status as the competition's highest scoring team, exceeding triple figures for the fifth week running - although their three-point shooting dipped dramatically.

Boasting a 49 per cent success rate, the Breakers nailed just 13 of 36 attempts - though between them Jones and Bruton drained seven of 11.

Kirk Penney missed seven of nine attempts as the Blaze focused on denying him space - a ploy that saw him make 16 visits to the foul line for only one miss.

Penney ended with a game high 29 points and was well supported by Rick Rickert and Bruton, who both contributed 22, while Jones added 21.

Veteran Australian guard Shane Heal toted 18 off his 23 points in the second half but was also well controlled by the Breakers defence down the stretch.

The Blaze were hampered by foul trouble while American import Jauquin Hawkins pulled out before tip-off to leave Brendon Joyce with only nine players.

"We've been doing it pretty tough," said Joyce, who remained positive.

"I haven't had too many losing seasons as a coach and this ain't over yet," he said.

"They're tight, they're not bickering or fighting. I know we'll turn it around, we just need everyone healthy."

The Breakers start a programme of four games in 11 days starting with return trips to Cairns and the Gold Coast next Wednesday and Saturday respectively.

-NZPA