Breakers hold out fast finishing Taipans

The New Zealand Breakers were on fire shooting to set up a 21-point lead before the Cairns Taipans put up a blistering fourth quarter run but the home team held on to the 99-92 win at Spark Arena.

The Breakers shot 80 per cent in the first half and it was still over 70 when they were leading by 21 early in the fourth quarter.

The Snakes, though, went on a 15-1 run to get back within seven, and got as close as six, but New Zealand held on for the seven-point win to move out of contention for the wooden spoon.

The Snakes were looking to back up their wins in the space of 48 hours against the two teams who went into the last round in top spot, Illawarra and Perth.

The teams combined for 54 points in the first quarter with Cairns narrowly leading 28-26 before the Breakers were on fire for 28 points in the second term to go into the half leading 54-49.

New Zealand were shooting 80 per cent from the field along with making 8/11 at 72 per cent from deep along with having 15 assists on the 21 made field goals.

Cairns had done well to keep things close but New Zealand blew the game open with the first six points of the second half before stretching their lead to 15 at three quarter-time, and to 21 early in the fourth.

The Taipans did catch fire with a 23-8 run to get back within six but the Breakers held on for their 10th win of the season to finish up going 61 per cent from the floor with 10/21 from deep despite 17 turnovers.

Matt Mooney produced 24 points and eight assists in the absence of Parker Jackson-Cartwright with Mojave King adding 16 points and four rebounds, Tacko Fall 14 points and nine boards, Karim Lopez 11 points, and Sam Mennenga 10 points and eight rebounds.

"We played with our heads and were under control most of the game. It was a solid 40 minutes," Breakers coach Petteri Koponen said.

It was another fighting performance from the last placed Taipans and Kyrin Galloway (11 points) and Kody Stattmann (eight points) were crucial in their fourth quarter fightback.

Pedro Bradshaw finished with 16 points on 5/8 three-point shooting with Sam Waardenburg adding 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, Rob Edwards 14 points, and Taran Armstrong 10 points and eight assists.

"It would have been easy to roll over at 21 down in the fourth and call it a night," Taipans coach Adam Forde said.

"I love the fight. There were still some self-inflicted wounds though. We missed a lot of foul shots.

"There were frustrations in the group too. Tanner got a tech, Rob got a tech. I was getting annoyed with the score bench - there were errors in that regards.

"We kept trying to regather our focus. Credit to New Zealand to hold it out at the end to get the win."

Pedro Bradshaw gave the Taipans a hot start with two early three-pointers and then Rob Edwards joined in with two from long range himself and the Snakes were in front 16-10 midway through the opening period.

Jonah Bolden and Grant Anticevich answered back with triples for the Breakers and in the end it was the Taipans narrowly leading 28-26 following an entertaining opening period.

Karim Lopez then had a blistering start to the second quarter with two three-point bombs and then a couple of free throws to put New Zealand up by five before threes from Mojave King and Matt Mooney stretched that out to seven.

But Cairns hit back with the next seven points including a three ball from Tanner Groves to tie scores up again before it was New Zealand managing to lead 54-49 at the half on the back of a buzzer-beater from Sam Mennenga.

It had been a stunning offensive showing from New Zealand with the 80 per cent shooting and going 8/11 from deep but 11 points from turnovers kept the Snakes in touch.

It was another scorching start to the second half from the Breakers with six quick points including a couple of dunks from Tacko Fall with Adam Forde needing a timeout after just 1:15.

He got the response with his team able to stem the tide, but New Zealand managed to maintain that advantage and by three quarter-time were still leading by 15 thanks to scoring the last six points through Kaia Isaac, Carlin Davidson and Sean Bairstow.

By the time Mooney knocked down his second three ball of the game, the Breakers' lead got out to 20 and was as much as 21, but the Taipans just refused to go away.

It was just a six-point game in the final minute but the Breakers did enough to secure the home victory.

The Breakers remain at home to finish their season back at Spark Arena against the Illawarra Hawks on Wednesday night.

The Taipans finish with two games in 48 hours next week firstly at home to the Brisbane Bullets on Thursday and then away on Saturday to the Tasmania JackJumpers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 99 (Mooney 24, King 16, Fall 14,)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 92 (Bradshaw 16, Waardenburg 16, Edwards 14)

BOX SCORE