Breakers fade against fast-finishing Kings
- Dave Worsley
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
A fourth quarter slip has seen the NZ Breaker fall to defeat at the hands of the Kings in Sydney 79-72
The Breakers led at every change and looked good for victory but suffered a 27-18 final quarter loss.
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The Kings had Xavier Cooks starring once again with 21 points, 14 rebounds and four assists despite also having six turnovers while Kouat Noi shot just 3/14 from the field but had 12 points and was important hitting all four of his foul shots.
Kendric Davis had a brilliant finish to the game with offensive and defensive plays with the delivering 21 points, six assists and four rebounds with 4/8 three-point shooting for Sydney.
Sydney edged in front 72-70 inside the last two minutes before suffocating New Zealand down the stretch.
Cooks' dunk made it 74-70, before Sam Mennenga replied by bobbling in a tough deuce to make it 74-72.
Parker Jackson-Cartwright once again did all he could for the Breakers with 23 points, seven assists and 4/9 three-point shooting with Mennenga ending up with 15 points and five rebounds, Next Star Karim Lopez eight points and eight boards, and Rob Baker II nine points, three rebounds and two steals.
Izaiah Brockington had been in season-best form coming into the game but the import guard struggled for eight points on 3/13 shooting.
Sydney were way off target early, hitting just 4/18 from the field in the opening term to New Zealand's 11/19 as the Breakers held sway 25-17.
The visitors' advantage grew to 30-17 early in the second before the hosts fought back, drawing level at 37 on Davis' pull-up three.
Jackson-Cartwright responded with a step back triple of his own, helping the Breakers to a 41-39 half-time edge before commanding the third stanza.
The lightning quick Breakers guard peeled off his side's first seven points of the term and the last two from the free-throw line with 1.4 seconds remaining to make it 54-52, after he picked Cooks' pocket - the profligate Kings' eighth turnover for the quarter.
Sydney's Bul Koul exited the game with his fifth foul midway through the fourth - and was fortunate to not receive a technical for dissent.
But even without their defensive enforcer, the Kings were able to make their match-defining charge in the dying minutes.
Both teams are now about to spend plenty of time on the road with the Kings having five straight away from Sydney beginning next Sunday in Wollongong against the Illawarra Hawks.
The Breakers have just played their third of 11 of 12 games until January outside of Auckland and their next assignments are on the Gold Coast to the Brisbane Bullets on Wednesday and then in Perth on Saturday.
SYDNEY KINGS 79 (Cooks 21, Davis 21, Noi 12)
NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 72 (Jackson-Cartwright 23, Mennenga 15, Baker II 9)
