Prather ensures Bullets get back to winning

The New Zealand Breakers couldn’t get Tacko Fall involved enough, Matt Mooney battled foul trouble and despite being shorthanded themselves, Casey Prather led the Brisbane Bullets to the crucial 83-74 win.

After Fall and Mooney produced 56 points between them in Sunday's loss to Perth, neither ever really got into Wednesday's game at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre while Prather proved the difference with 31 for the Bullets as they snapped a three-game losing run.

It was a critical match up for both teams but each were also missing key players with the Breakers without Parker Jackson-Cartwright for the third game of his five-match suspension.

They were without Mojave King as well with a calf injury while the Bullets were without new import Josh Adams, their second leading scorer Keandre Cook and Next Star Rocco Zikarsky.

Neither team was able to get any momentum throughout the first half, but Prather delivered 17 points and six rebounds to help the Bullets to the 38-35 lead.

Despite Mooney and Fall having three fouls, New Zealand stayed in touch with the only six offensive rebounds of the second quarter but it was a grind with the Bullets shooting 42 per cent and the Breakers 43.

A fourth foul to Mooney once again hurt New Zealand just as it did when he fouled out on Sunday against Perth with Brisbane taking full advantage to blow the game open in the third quarter.

The Bullets were up eight heading into the fourth and opened up a double-figure advantage in the last 10 minutes to improve to 10-11 and stay right in the top six race.

Despite Prather shooting 1/11 from three, he went 10/15 inside the arc and 8/14 at the stripe for 31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

Harrison finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive), Isaac White 13 points on 3/3 three-point shooting, Deng Adel 11 points and three assists and Josh Bannan eight points and nine boards.

"Tonight was another one of those nights where we had a lot going against the grain for us," said Bullets coach Justin Schueller.

"We needed someone to step up. I told him (Prather) I dreamt about him taking 40 shots - he only took 26. For him to come out with that assertive mindset was outstanding."

The Breakers are 8-13 having lost 10 of the last 11 with Mooney shaking off the foul trouble and only playing 22 minutes for 21 points. Mitch McCarron added nine points and five rebounds, Karim Lopez eight points and four boards, and Max Darling eight points.

"We had many empty possessions," Breakers coach Petteri Koponen said.

"We had some wide-open shots but couldn't score the ball.

"On the road you need to play better basketball and we weren't able to do that."

With both teams possessing a giant inside and missing some stars in the back court, it became a fascinating battle of the big men with Tyrell Harrison and Tacko Fall scoring first for their sides.

But it was Mitch McCarron crucial to the Breakers making a 6-2 start before Isaac White knocked down a couple of threes for the Bullets before it was New Zealand clinging to the 17-15 lead at the end of one thanks to 7/12 at the foul line to 1/5 from Brisbane.

Casey Prather provided the spark early in the second quarter for the Bullets as he scored 11 quick points including hitting a three ball to give his team a four-point advantage despite New Zealand triples from Kaia Isaac and Matt Mooney.

However, Mooney and Fall both had three fouls before half-time for the Breakers and even though a third three of the half from White kept Brisbane on top, six late points from 17-year-old Karim Lopez saw the Breakers limit the Bullets lead to 38-35 at the break.

The Breakers stayed in touch with the only six offensive rebounds in that second quarter despite the 17 points and six rebounds for the Bullets from Prather which was proving the difference.

Fall didn’t start the second half for New Zealand and then Mooney picked up a fourth foul early on when Mitch Norton drew a charge on him forcing him to go sit down a very agitated man.

The Bullets took advantage to gradually build on the lead and they did start the half with an 8-2 run to go up by nine but the Breakers fired straight back with triples from McCarron and Grant Anticevich.

The Bullets pushed their edge back out to 58-50 by three quarter-time with an offensive rebound and putback by Harrison and then maintained their advantage throughout the fourth on the way to the important nine-point win.

Both teams back up again to play on Saturday with the Breakers first up on the road to the Illawarra Hawks while the Bullets head to Gippsland to try and beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix for a third time in NBL25.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

BRISBANE BULLETS 83 (Prather 31, White 13, Harrison 13)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 74 (Mooney 21, McCarron 9, Lopez 8, Darling 8)

BOX SCORE