Brantley, McDowell-White Deliver Breakers Huge Win

With Will McDowell-White leading the charge and Jarrell Brantley coming up huge including the game winner, the New Zealand Breakers returned to winning form beating the league-leading Sydney Kings 93-88 on Sunday.

The Breakers came into the clash in front of the season-high crowd of 14,232 at Qudos Bank Arena having lost their last four, and seven of the past nine to be losing touch of the top two and just holding on in the top four.

The challenge against the reigning champs was a significant one too with the Kings fresh off their six-game winning run ending in Perth on Friday night too so the stage was set for a terrific match up.

It didn’t disappoint but it was a game the Breakers just weren’t going to be denied in.

New Zealand opened up a five-point lead by the end of the first quarter with that advantage extending to 14 by half-time with McDowell-White, Brantley and Rob Loe combining for 38 points as they shot 63 per cent as a team.

Sydney was always going to hit back, though, and the Kings did return to the lead in the fourth quarter and went up three after a 7-0 run with three minutes to go.

However, New Zealand dominated the final three minutes with Brantley capping off his huge game with his team's last 13 points to secure the five-point win.

The victory consolidates the Breakers in third spot at 14-10 while the Kings stay top but are locked in a battle for that position with the Cairns Taipans now at 17-7.

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Brantley ended the game for the Breakers with 30 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks on 9/16 shooting from the field and 9/10 from the free-throw line. Even more impressive was he helped limit Sydney superstar Xavier Cooks to 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. 

McDowell-White was superb too without backcourt running mates Izayah Le'afa and Barry Brown Jr. The one time Sydney King had 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

Rob Loe had a terrific first half on his way to 15 points and five rebounds on 3/3 three-point shooting with Dererk Pardon adding 11 points and five boards.

Breakers coach Mody Maor was rightfully proud of his team recording their first win since January 8 against Adelaide.

"I'm very proud of our guys," Maor said.

"There's a lot of stuff that's stacked against us in this situation and they came out and played like men. 

"They were confident, tough, humble but unfazed and not scared of the moment. Those are great signs and I'm very obviously very happy to get that win."

Derrick Walton Jr top-scored for Sydney with 17 points to go with six rebounds and four assists while Justin Simon contributed 16 points and four boards, DJ Vasiljevic 12 points and four rebounds, and Tim Soares eight points and four boards.

Sydney coach Chase Buford pointed to his team missing a lot of gettable shots at the rim and going 24/36 from the foul line.

"Probably making layups and free-throws is a big one," Buford said. 

"It's hard to win games against anybody when you miss as many point blank shots as we did and to miss as many free-throws especially down the stretch as we did. 

"We were unfortunate that it was one where we fought and compete, and gave ourselves a chance but then they banked one in and that's how the game goes sometimes."

With both teams in the top three positions but coming off losses, it was a tight opening until the Breakers got to work in the second half of the opening quarter.

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It was Jarrell Brantley setting the tone getting the better of his match up with Xavier Cooks and when he knocked down a couple of three balls on his way to nine first quarter points, and Cam Gliddon landed from deep too, the Breakers were up 22-17.

New Zealand shot 61 per cent in the opening period and hit 4/6 from beyond the arc with the Kings hitting just 6/18 from the field in front of the biggest crowd of the season.

Sydney tried to shoot its way back into the contest in the early parts of the second quarter including getting three balls from Jaylin Galloway, Jordan Hunter and Justin Simon, but New Zealand continued to have all the answers.

Rob Loe hit his second and third three-pointers of the game and then went to the rim and finished to close the half with the Breakers out to a 55-41 advantage on the back of a 17-4 run going into the break.

Brantley had 14 points, Loe 13 and Will McDowell-White 11 with the Breakers putting together a tremendous half shooting 63 per cent and making 7/14 from downtown.

Cooks had just five points and one rebound for Sydney while as a team they went at just 34 per cent from the field.

Sydney came out a fired up outfit to start the second half and did outscore New Zealand 15-8 early, but triples for the Breakers from Brantley and Gliddon kept them on top.

However, Sydney's momentum was building and they got back to within two points with Simon leading their effort defensively. New Zealand's lead was still two by three quarter-time after McDowell-White and DJ Vasiljevic traded three-pointers.

Cooks and Vasiljevic helped Sydney grab their first lead since early in the game to start the fourth before the teams continued to trade blows.

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McDowell-White was coming up huge for the Breakers and was instrumental in putting his team back up four with five minutes to play, but then the Kings took hold of the momentum once more.

Scores off offensive rebounds to Cooks and Simon completed a 7-0 run to put the Kings up three but Brantley scored successive buckets for New Zealand to see the visitors back up one with just over a minute to play.

Ultimately it was a banked in three-pointer from Brantley that capped off his terrific afternoon to seal the crucial win for the Breakers.

The Breakers remain on the road to play the resurgent Brisbane Bullets on Thursday. The Kings head to Hobart to play the Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

SYDNEY KINGS 88 (Walton Jr 17, Simon 16, Vasiljevic 12)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 93 (Brantley 30, McDowell-White 20, Loe 15) 

BOX SCORE