BNZ Breakers Defeated By In-Form Adelaide 36ers

The BNZ Breakers suffered a 94-78 loss to Adelaide 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday night.

Adelaide’s high-powered offence, led by Montrezl Harrell’s 26 points and Kendric Davis’ double-double of 23 points and 13 assists, proved too much for the Breakers to overcome.

With co-captain Parker Jackson-Cartwright missing the game due to a mid section injury, the Breakers struggled to find consistency on offence.

Trailing by as many as 28 points, the Breakers regrouped and showed resilience in the second half by mounting a 12-0 run to trim the deficit.

The Breakers won the second half 43-37, but the damage done in the first half was enough to allow Adelaide to seal the result.

Mojave King led a valiant effort off the bench with a team high 20 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting, draining five three pointers.

Jonah Bolden recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Matt Mooney contributed 14 points and a team-high nine assists and Karim Lopez pulled down 11 boards to go with his seven points.

Turnovers proved costly, with the Breakers committing 17 compared to Adelaide’s eight, leading to 18 points for the home side.

Head coach Petteri Koponen said his side lacked energy early in the contest but responded well in the second half.

“We came out flat. The energy wasn’t where it needed to be against a team like Adelaide,” he said.

“Second half we competed much better, but it wasn’t enough. The first half did the damage - we didn’t have a good start.

“When we tried to get the ball in to Tacko, they doubled him and that opened up a lot of chances for other guys. We need to keep shooting the ball with confidence and when we did that, guys like Mojave made it look good.”

The BNZ Breakers now head home ahead of a match-up against Cairns Taipans at Spark Arena on Saturday night.

“Cairns are playing great basketball right now so we will focus on performing better against them.

“It’s great to have two games in a row in front of our home crowd at Spark. We will compete our hearts out and play for each other and our fans.”

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