Breakers hold out Phoenix in home opener

An 11-0 run late in the contest saw the New Zealand Breakers win their first home game of the NBL season despite a late scare from the South East Melbourne Phoenix to prevail 81-79.

The Phoenix arrived at Spark Arena hunting for a first win of NBL25 after losses to Perth and Melbourne, and Nathan Sobey (24 points, four rebounds, four assists) delivered his best performance at his fourth club.

South East Melbourne were leading 70-67 with seven minutes to go but then New Zealand took control with the next 11 points topped off with a triple from Jonah Bolden.

The Phoenix got back within a point with 5.7 seconds to go with a three-pointer from Matt Hurt (20 points), but the Breakers just held on to start life under new coach Petteri Koponen unbeaten.

The Phoenix are 0-3 after a wooden spoon season in NBL24 and while Sobey and Hurt were standouts, former Championship Series MVP Derrick Walton Jr had just two points with three turnovers on 1/7 shooting.

Koponen lauded the performance at both ends of Jackson-Cartwright afterwards who not only had another 19 points, seven assists and four steals, but was outstanding defensively on Walton Jr.

He was proud of the effort of the whole team though.

"He's the superstar of this league, he's one of the best players and he's our leader," coach Koponen said.

"It wasn't always pretty today, but sometimes basketball is like this. We found a way. We didn't start the game good, but overall I'm really proud."

Sobey put up 10 points in the space of two minutes across half-time, landing a floater from a tough angle, then forcing a timeout just before the break when he drove through the basket on a three-point play.

But when he missed a bunny on transition in the final minute, the Phoenix had given themselves a mountain to climb, down seven points with the seconds ticking away.

Walton Jr and fellow guard Sobey both fouled out in the final minute as the Phoenix needed a steady hand to pull the Breakers back in.

There were further good signs for the Breakers with new import guard Matt Mooney having 15 points and three assists while Sam Mennenga had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Jonah Bolden eight points and eight boards including a crucial late triple.

Import centre Freddie Gillespie made his NBL debut for five points, four rebounds and two blocks as a glimpse into what he can provide.

On top of the strong performances from Sobey and Hurt for the Phoenix, Jordan Hunter provided another 12 points and 12 rebounds with Joe Wieskamp adding 10 points, 12 boards and two blocked shots.

"I'm disappointed with the loss and with the start of the season how we've gone, but we've got to understand what we're doing and (we're) a new group," Sobey said.

"We've got 11 new guys trying to figure out at the same time how we'll play with each other and how that looks over the course of 40 minutes.

"I like where we're at as a group in terms of how we're responding to things throughout the week and our mindset going into the game.

"We'll continue to get better and we'll continue to improve from here."

The Phoenix now head into another road venue against a team playing their home opener against the Adelaide 36ers on Thursday night.

The Breakers are now off to the United States for NBLxNBA tour with games against the Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder starting on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 81 (Jackson-Cartwright 19, Mooney 15, Mennenga 11)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 79 (Sobey 24, Hurt 20, Hunter 12)

BOX SCORE