Breakers Return to Winners List Against Wildcats

A spectacular return from Next Star Rayan Rupert and another standout scoring display from Barry Brown Jr has seen the New Zealand Breakers return to the NBL winner's list with Wednesday's 97-94 tight win over the Perth Wildcats.

The two teams have had a remarkable rivalry for more than a decade now and there was added intrigue as they opened Round 14 in New Plymouth fresh off the Wildcats signing former Breaker Tai Webster to join his older brother Corey in red.

With precious little separating the teams on the table too with New Zealand coming into the clash 11-6 and Perth 10-8, it was all set for a terrific battle and it sure didn't disappoint.

With Bryce Cotton, Brady Manek and TaShawn Thomas combining for 33 first half points, the Wildcats threatened to open up a handy lead in the second quarter but a spark from Rupert, and combined 25 points from Izayah Le'afa and Brown kept things close.

The Breakers then opened up what proved to be a match-winning lead with a 14-0 run late in the third quarter. 

Even though the Wildcats fought valiantly with Cotton and Corey Webster combining for five threes in the fourth period, New Zealand held on to win by three and snap a three-game losing streak spread over a month.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What can&#39;t Rayan Rupert do? ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/DIKkGTsMnf">pic.twitter.com/DIKkGTsMnf</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1610535109706551296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Brown ended up top-scoring once more for the Breakers with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists while Rupert's return for his first game since breaking his wrist on November 6 was spectacular with 14 points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.

Dererk Pardon added 13 points for New Zealand, Le'afa 18 points, three assists and three steals, and Jarrell Brantley 11 points, seven boards, four assists and three steals.

Breakers coach Mody Maor was glad to have a full squad available aside from point guard Will McDowell-White as they try to build some momentum again.

"I think it was a really good game, obviously didn’t start the way we wanted and I think we showed a lot of character and grit getting back into it," Maor said. 

"It's also nice to have more players on the bench to give momentum when depth has always been one of our strengths, and not having it hurt us a little bit in this stretch. 

"It was a phenomenal display of shot making from Perth and I feel we defended it well, but just played against great players who made a lot of tough shots."

Cotton produced another terrific performance for Perth with 32 points and five assists on 10/15 shooting from the floor and 5/7 from deep.

Manek finished with 20 points and seven rebounds with four triples, Corey Webster 19 points with 3/4 three-point shooting, Thomas 14 points and six rebounds, and Mitch Norton nine points, five boards and three assists.

New signing Tai Webster was suited up and on the bench with his team but didn’t hit the floor to make his Wildcats debut.

Perth coach John Rillie saw a lot to like in the performance, but still left with some areas of frustration.

"New Zealand, they're a playoff team and are well prepared, their coaches get them ready but we got off to a great start," Rillie said. 

"We certainly scored enough points to win the game, we just had a loose second quarter that allowed them to get a lot of momentum and go into half-time with some hope. 

"I'm obviously emotional right now about the game but we've done a good job this season of taking care of the ball, but we had 18 turnovers. 

"So for how good we are offensively when we're in that sort of groove, to have 18 turnovers we're penalising ourselves and the opportunity to score more points. 

"I thought New Zealand did a great job of beating us to the 50-50 balls, the one percenter type plays and when you play a close game like that, those things really show up."

Barry Brown Jr started well scoring the first six points for the Breakers but the Wildcats soon worked their way on top and were up 14-6 on the back of an 8-0 run that included triples from Brady Manek and Bryce Cotton.

Cam Gliddon came on to hit a three to keep the Breakers close but Mitch Norton responded with an and-one for Perth to keep the Wildcats on top 22-17 by quarter-time on the back of shooting 55 per cent to 44.

The 'Cats also started the second quarter strongly and when Manek knocked down another three ball the lead was out to double-figures. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is a close finish, thanks to Manek ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/KpLpqAyPeV">pic.twitter.com/KpLpqAyPeV</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1610553881016291328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was Rayan Rupert who provided the spark to bring the Breakers back into the contest as he marked his return with some spectacular play. 

The Next Star started off getting a steal to cause a turnover, he hit a three and made a couple more buckets including converting one into a three-point play to go on an individual run of eight quick points. 

Izayah Le'afa then joined in with five quick points and New Zealand scored 10 straight to get back within one, and that was still the margin by half-time in favour of Perth.

Jarrell Brantley gave New Zealand a spark to open the second half before Perth was able to steady to a four-point lead midway through the third quarter with Manek draining his fourth three of the game.

However, it was all the Breakers for the rest of the quarter beginning with a strong and-one from Dererk Pardon. The home team then closed out the quarter with 14 straight points in a stunning run with Rupert at the centre of it all.

He made another three ball, converted a three-point play and suddenly the Breakers went into three quarter-time in control leading 74-65.

With Cotton and Corey Webster out there still for Perth, the Wildcats kept within striking distance. Cotton hit three triples to help bring the margin back to three before New Zealand steadied with three balls from Brantley and Le'afa.

It was then Corey Webster's turn to step up and he knocked down a pair of threes of his own to keep it a three-point ball game.

And while Rupert and Brown had been the stars up to that point for New Zealand, it was front court pair Pardon and Brantley who scored their next eight points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How did Rob Loe see that ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/10yp30WMxF">pic.twitter.com/10yp30WMxF</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1610549688041897984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That helped ice the eventual three-point win even though the Wildcats kept things interesting right to the death and Manek had a chance to sent it to overtime on the buzzer.

Both teams back up again to play this weekend with the Wildcats against the Sydney Kings on Saturday before the Breakers are away to the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday. They then have one another again on Tuesday night at RAC Arena. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 97 (Brown Jr 23, Le'afa 18, Rupert 14)

PERTH WILDCATS 94 (Cotton 32, Manek 20, C Webster 19) 

BOX SCORE