Breakers scrape past Dragons 

  By John Whiting at the
  North Shore Events Centre

The injury-hit Breakers have scraped past South Dragons 107-104 at the North Shore Events Centre on Thursday night.

Phill Jones was once again the hero, hitting two free throws in the final seconds to secure victory for his side.

Kirk Penney had an off night by his high standards but still managed a game-high 24 points including four three-pointers.

Player/coach Shane Heal was stunning in the fourth quarter, proving he is still all class while shooting from anywhere around the perimeter.

He ended up with 22 points on 7-of-14 from the field and added five triples.

After a horror game on defence against the Taipans last week, the Breakers put on a much improved effort on the boards.

Oscar Forman recorded a double-double with 17 points and a massive 13 rebounds while defensive dynamo Mika Vukona had 10 total rebounds in his 20 minutes on court.

The weakened Breakers made an expectedly slow start to the contest in the absence of two of their starters.

The Dragons had the better of the opening exchanges with Cortez Groves and Joe Ingles dropping threes in the first minute.

But after the visitors rocketed out to an eight-point lead, New Zealand finally found some cohesion and soared back midway through the first quarter to tie the game up.

The tight battle continued into the first break with South carrying a slim 25-23 advantage.

Against the Dragons' big man Bakari Hendrix, Tony Ronaldson was doing a good job on defence and at the other end of the floor he was finding the bucket.

And without rebound king Rick Rickert it looked like the rest of the Breakers were making an extra effort to get to the loose ball.

Defence driving offence

Five minutes out from halftime Paora Winitana knocked down a bomb from beyond the arc to put the Breakers up by eight points.

The injection of Vukona off the bench gave a massive boost to the hosts with the Fijian dominating in defence.

With the Dragons' points drying up, New Zealand continued to execute on offence and went up by as many as 15 points before going into halftime ahead 58-44.

At the major split Ronaldson had a team-high 12 points while Penney wasn't far behind with 11 points and five rebounds.

Joe Ingles was the best of the Dragons with 14 points.

The hosts hit a rough patch coming out of the locker rooms, scoring only two points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.

But after Vukona pulled off his second stunning 360-degree spin to the hoop, the points began to flow again.

Two quick buckets brought South back beneath a double-digit deficit through some sublime play from Jacob Holmes.

Then back-to-back threes from Heal in the final 30 seconds had the visitors behind by just four points (80-74) going into the fourth quarter.

With the Dragons beginning to heat up from long-range, it was gut check time for New Zealand.

Midway through the final period the Breakers led by just four and a three-point shootout was looking ominous.

With just over four minutes on the clock Hendrix fouled out for the visitors which brought the sides level in the forward stakes.

Jones sent a long-range jumper through the net with 2:31 remaining, putting the Breakers in front by eight points and forcing Heal to call a timeout.

Another Heal triple off the back of a turnover saw New Zealand's lead disintegrate to just two points before Paul Henare shot one free throw.

With nine seconds on the clock, just the man you don't want to foul was sent to the line. Jones connected with both shots and had the hosts up by five.

Cortez Groves nailed a three-pointer but the Breakers shuffled the ball around from the under their own net, not giving the Dragons any time on the clock after the foul on Forman.

Breakers 107: (Penney 24, Jones 18, Forman 17, Ronaldson 17)
Dragons 104: (Heal 22, Burston 21, Ingles 20)
Halftime: Breakers 58-44