Wildcats fuming after Breakers thriller

FIONA GOODALL/Fairfax Media

HEAVY TRAFFIC: Breakers guard Kirk Penney runs into heavy resistance from the Perth Wildcats during their match in Auckland.

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The Perth Wildcats were fuming after the New Zealand Breakers stole a last-second 103-99 Australian NBL victory in Auckland last night, courtesy of a controversial foul call that handed the Kiwi side victory from the free-throw line.

The result, taking the Breakers to 6-2 for the season, helped them celebrate veteran forward Tony Ronaldson's record-equally 612th Australian NBL game in style, though it has to be said that they did get the rub of the green on the final call of the match..

The Breakers, out of sorts early and outplayed for large chunks of this North Shore Events Centre matchup, played catchup basketball pretty much the whole way through a physical, and at times heated, encounter. They only hit the lead for the first time with just under four minutes remaining when CJ Bruton nailed just his second three-pointer of the match.

They had trailed by as many as 18 and, frankly, had looked a distinctly inferior outfit for much of it, with many of the team's big names appearing lethargic and decidedly soft on defence. Star scorer Kirk Penney played with an ankle injury, and was a liability at times at the defensive end, while Bruton, Ronaldson and Rick Rickert all had to shake off fairly flat spells early on.

But they hung tough, made some big shots down the stretch and in the end snuck a controversial win when Penney, who shook off his issues to emerge with a game-high 24 points, was fouled with under a second left, the scores locked 99-99 and about to launch a desperation long-range heave.

Referee Alan Godden called big Ben Knight for a dubious foul on the play and, amid mayhem, with Wildcats coach Conner Henry going berserk on the sidelines, Penney stepped up to nail all three foul-throws to ice a victory inflated by one thanks to Henry's technical foul.

Henry was distraught when he came in to speak to the media afterwards, and clearly had to hold back on his true evaluation of Godden's controversial whistle, almost always a no-call at that stage of a basketball match at this level.

"If I comment about the officiating then I'm going to get fined by the league," said the extrovert American coach who was a whirling dervish on the sidelines throughout. "Sometimes there's icebergs lurking under the floor, sometimes it's Diego Maradona's hand of god. It's the lucky goal.

"So, hats off to New Zealand. We didn't defend the three-point line, they shot 42 percent and we turned the ball over 21 times. So there's the game in a nutshell.

"The players are disappointed, they're hurting. I wish it could have gone to overtime."

Wildcats star guard Peter Crawford, who had a splendid game with 22 points and six assists, was a little more succinct in his evaluation of the way the match was decided.

"Yeah, it's very disappointing," said the slashing perimeter man. "It's 48 minutes, and for it to come down to that... it stings a little bit. The ref's got to call what he sees... but if a player makes a mistake he gets in trouble."

Predictably the Breakers saw it slightly different.

Ronaldson, who has now tied Andrew Gaze's record mark for league appearances and will own it outright Saturday night in Townsville, said he felt Godden made the right call.

"I think it was a foul," said the 36-year-old former Boomer. "If it happens in the first half it probably would have been called. I don't like it when a ref puts his whistle away just because it's the last play."

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said he also "thought it was a foul" and added "I was pleased the ref had the courage to make the call".

But Ronaldson made probably the most accurate comment when he added: "We've used our Get Out of Jail Free card for the year. Down 18 at one stage, our starters have to find the same intensity that the likes of Dillon Boucher and Paul Henare bring at the defensive end. We certainly can't let a team like Perth run all over us and put us on the back foot.

"It's become a bit of an issue, I have to say."

Penney came good at the end to shake off what looked like being a below-par match, while he was ably supported by Bruton, who had 17 points (9/10 FT) and Dillon Boucher who stuffed the statline with 11 points, nine boards, four assists and three steals. Rick Rickert also weighed in with a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards.

The Breakers came out like slouches, conceding 9-0 runs to the sharp Wildcats at the start of the first two quarters. They trailed by six at the first quarter (27-33), by as many as 18 late in the second spell and only a late flurry got them to within 11 (47-58) at the major break.

But the signs were not positive for the New Zealanders at the intermission. They were outshot (68-47 in field goal percentage), outrebounded (19-13) and outpassed (15-10 in assists) by the more energetic and efficient Wildcats.

Coach Lemanis had called on his team to continue to play with defensive intensity, but whether they were giving up easy hoops to danger man Shawn Redhage (10 first-half points to go with six boards) and Alex Loughton (eight points), or coughing up open looks from long-range to Peter Crawford (nine points, 3/5 3PT) and Darnell Hinson (12 points 4/4FG), it was not good enough.

But they've got some stickability these Breakers. Somehow they worked their way back into the match with a 24-17 third quarter that got them within four (71-75) heading into the final stanza. It was scrappy stuff from the Kiwis, and at one stage the match threatened to boil over when ex-Breaker Redhage got in a tangle with Phill Jones and took real exception to whatever transpired.

From there on it was thrill-a-second stuff as the Wildcats snuck out to a seven-point lead in the final quarter, and the Breakers worked their way back, largely on the back of Boucher's relentless hustle and some key late hoops from Penney. In the end the match-defining call went the home side's way, and the home crowd went away happy.

Not so the angry visitors who will no doubt be counting down the days to the rematch.

NZ Breakers 103 (Kirk Penney 24, CJ Bruton 17, Oscar Forman 14, Rick Rickert 12, Tony Ronaldson 12, Phill Jones 11, Dillon Boucher 11),  Perth Wildcats 99 ( Peter Crawford 22, Darnell Hinson 18, Shawn Redhage 14, Alex Loughton 12, Isiah Victor 11)). ¼ 27-33; ht: 47-58; ¾: 71-75.