PJC stars for Breakers in big win over Taipans
Jackson-Cartwright established himself as the game’s leading scorer early, with 21 first-half points, and finished with 27 and 10 assists to inspire his team’s superiority across all four quarters and the final score.
His 10/18 shooting included 5/8 from the arc, as his team dominated the box score.
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The Breakers started strongly, scoring the first seven points, before their rivals could find the basket, but Cairns tightened up their defence and drew level at 11-11.
Consecutive threes to Jackson-Cartwright and Mojave King re-established an advantage for the home team, who led 19-18 after a quarter to earn their first point of the season in the Ignite format.
The Taipans had their first lead of the game, when American Malique Lewis scored first in the second quarter and Kyrin Galloway converted with a dunk off back-to-back Breakers errors, as they conceded nine straight points.
That Cairns run came with Jackson-Cartwright resting on the bench, but he returned with his third trey of the contest to keep his team close. While he was their most effective scorer, the guard had also contributed to their stagnancy, committing four early turnovers.
Veteran Reuben Te Rangi logged his third personal foul midway through the second quarter and was forced back to the bench.
Guard DJ Vasiljevic found his range and Jackson-Cartwright continued to cook, as the Breakers built a 42-35 advantage at halftime with a 15-7 run to close out the period.
Jackson-Cartwright led all scorers – he was the only player in double figures – with the Breakers hitting 53% (7/13) from beyond the arc.
They had also done a great job of limiting former NBA forward Jack McVeigh to seven points off 3/9 shooting from the field.
The margin reached double figures, when forward Sam Menenga missed a free throw, but PJC tipped home the rebound, as part of a six-point run.
Menenga converted an old-fashioned three-point play and King hit back-to-back from long range, as the Breakers took a firm grip on the contest.
McVeigh began to heat up with seven straight points and a three-pointer from guard Reyne Smith reduced the Cairns deficit to 10 points.
Menenga had been more of a facilitator than scorer, but began to find some rhythm from the free-throw line, and three from Te Rangi and guard Izayah Le’afa provided a 72-60 buffer into the fourth quarter.
So far, the Breakers had grabbed all available points for winning the opening three quarters.
Jackson-Cartwright had added just two points to his halftime tally, but had his teammates more involved. Te Rangi threw up a perfect alley-oop pass for forward Carlin Davidson from an out-of-bounds play and Davidson followed up with a defensive steal that Menenga converting at the other end.
Menenga felt robbed of a basket, when he deflected a pass from Davidson through the hoop, but had the points taken away, when marker Keanu Pinder was called for a foul before the shot. That just fired up the Tall Blacks big man, who began to dominate late under the basket.
When Davidson hit a corner three, the advantage reached 20 points, the Breakers run reached 13 and even they could not blow that lead with just four minutes remaining.
A pass to Le’afa for another three-pointer was PJC’s 10th assist of the game and both teams ran their benches for the final moments, with the result secure.
Menenga finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while shooting 8/11 from the stripe, while King had four three-pointers in his 14 points and centre Charles Bediako blocked four shots on defence.
McVeigh led the Taipans with 16 points, shooting just 7/21 from the field and his team hit just 7/36 (19%) from long distance.
The Breakers are now 2-2 for the season and next travel to Adelaide on Sunday.
NZ Breakers 98 (Jackson-Cartwright 27, Menenga 18, King 14, Vasiljevic 9, Davidson 9, Te Rangi 7, Bediako 6, Le’afa 6, Noi 2) Cairns Taipans 75 (J McVeigh 16, Lewis 11, Smith 10, Brown 9, Pinder 6, Bolden 6, Bruce 5, Galloway 5, Brown 3, Dech 2, L McVeigh 2
