Breakers in top of the table log jam 

Source: PhotosportBreakers point guard CJ Bruton

Following back-to-back wins, the Breakers are now in a log jam near the top of the ANBL table with the leading six teams all on seven wins.

And with two home games to come on consecutive Thursday nights, the Andrej Lemanis coached side knows they have the perfect opportunity to further establish their playoff credentials this side of Christmas, starting with Thursday night's encounter with the Wollongong Hawks.

Last week's win over the Taipans was led by the resurgent Oscar Forman, who finished with a season high 23 points and eight boards. Another typically energetic contribution from Rick Rickert helped too with the big picking up 16 points and six rebounds.

The Breakers won every quarter, eventually winning 94-77 and avenging the road loss against the Taipans just eight days earlier.

In a curious twist to the game, the much awaited return of Kirk Penney took longer than anticipated. Penney and Tony Ronaldson moved to the bench ready to sub in with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter. But the next stoppage in play did not occur until right on quarter time, as Penney entered the game to rapturous applause from the big home crowd.

After a quiet start the 2009 league MVP exploded into life in the final quarter to finish with an impressive 22 points, 14 of which came in the final four minutes.

In other statistics from last Thursday:

Tony Ronaldson extended his ANBL appearance record by playing his 650th game.

CJ Bruton had five assists to reach 1600 ANBL career assists at 4.2 per game and Rick Rickert with six rebounds became only the 5th player to pull down 500 boards for the club at 8.5 rebounds per game.

Next up for the Breakers is the visit of Wollongong to the North Shore Events Centre this Thursday night. The Breakers were beaten 76-65 on the road earlier in the season. The overall home record against the Hawks is only 5-4 but the Breakers have won the last three encounters at the NSEC.

There are a raft of milestones that could be reached in this game;

Tony Ronaldson requires just five points to become only the fifth player to score 10,000 points in the league (9,995 at 15.4 ppg).

CJ Bruton requires one point to reach 700 points for the Breakers at 16.3 ppg (11th all time).

Dillon Boucher requires five rebounds to reach the 500 rebounds mark for the club (sixth all time) at 6.7 rebounds per game.

Kirk Penney needs 16 points to become just the second Breaker to score 1600 points for the club at 24.0 points per game.

Oscar Forman playing his 111th consecutive game needs 16 points to reach 1200 for the club at 10.7 points per game

Rick Rickert requires four assists to bring up a century of assists for the club.