Landale fires, Hopson delivers as United hold off Breakers

The New Zealand Breakers refused to lie down and fought to the end with Tai Webster brilliant but ultimately Scotty Hopson against his former team, Jock Landale and Melbourne United did enough to take away the 87-84 NBL Cup victory.

It turned out to be a cracking contest to close the Friday night double-header at John Cain Arena with United only pulling away from the gutsy Breakers in the fourth quarter.

Jock Landale, Scotty Hopson and Mitch McCarron made up a match-winning 10-0 run for Melbourne to help them turn a four-point deficit into an 11-point lead.

The Breakers refused to go down without swinging for the fences though. Corey Webster kickstarted a 9-2 response to see them back within four points but try as they might, they couldn’t quite get closer than that with Tai Webster fouling out and United holding on to win 87-84.

The win takes Melbourne to a 10-1 record overall this season and 4-1 at the NBL Cup while New Zealand is 3-7 overall and 2-3, but this game proved the teams are much closer than those records suggest.

Jock Landale was outstanding for United ending the night with 23 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists on 7/11 shooting from the field and 3/4 from deep. But he had a fascinating battle with Colter Iverson as the pair resumed hostilities.

Mitch McCarron continued his brilliant form with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists but like he did so often with the Breakers last season, Scotty Hopson turned match-winner when it mattered and had 16 points for United.

Mason Peatling had an impressive cameo early in the fourth quarter too for eight points and five rebounds as part of a 18-5 run.

There was plenty to like for United coach Dean Vickerman but the news doesn’t look good with an injury Hopson picked up late in the fourth quarter.

"It's his adductor we think right now," Vickerman said.

"We'll take scans tomorrow but certainly I don’t think he's going to be available for Sunday and we'll assess it tomorrow and see how long he is going to be out for. But I think it's not going to be a one week injury."

Despite being restricted to nine minutes in the first half with foul trouble and then fouling out with 47 seconds left, Tai Webster was brilliant for New Zealand with 32 points, two assists and two steals on 12/20 shooting from the floor and 4/5 from downtown.

Corey Webster didn’t shoot well with 6/17 from the floor but still had 14 points and five rebounds while Iverson fought valiantly for nine points and four boards.

Tom Abercrombie stepped up in a captain's performance for 13 points with Finn Delany adding eight and Jarrad Weeks seven.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir couldn’t fault his team's fighting spirit.

"I think it was a good game overall. It was tough, intense and had good effort from both teams," Shamir said. 

"We probably ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter and they scored more than the rest, and the coverages from us were pretty good for three quarters. But they were able to score 30 points in the fourth. 

"Tai had a great game, Corey played hurt and that's probably what we missed offensively because he couldn’t really get his usual shots and create. We are just moving on."

The Breakers came into the game on their first winning streak of the season and started on fire to lead 13-6 early forcing Melbourne into a timeout. United turned it around from there and led 23-20 after one.

The Webster brothers opened the second quarter with triples to put New Zealand back on top and they did lead by as much as five in the period, but Mitch McCarron and Scotty Hopson helped Melbourne tie things up at the break despite their team having eight first half turnovers.

Both teams went on their own runs during the third quarter but by the end of it the game was up for grabs with Melbourne narrowly leading 59-58.

New Zealand regained the lead to start the final quarter but then Melbourne produced the deciding run of the game and it all started with three consecutive baskets from Mason Peatling. 

Jock Landale then joined in with five quick points, Hopson added five and McCarron scored to make the lead 11. The Breakers kept fighting but didn’t get back closer than four with Melbourne holding on to win by three.

Melbourne has a quick turnaround to play the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday as the NBL Cup continues while New Zealand has until Wednesday before playing the Cairns Taipans.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 8
NBL CUP WEEK 3

MELBOURNE UNITED 87 (Landale 23, McCarron 17, Hopson 16)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 84 (T Webster 32, C Webster 14, Abercrombie 13) 

POINTS AWARDED – Melbourne United 3, New Zealand Breakers 0

BOX SCORE