Breakers thump Kings

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Updated: 8:00am – The New Zealand Breakers have turned in their best performance so far of the new ANBL basketball season with a 90-73 victory over the Sydney Kings in Auckland.

Inspired by the unexpected presence of Kirk Penney, whose father had just died, the Breakers completely outmuscled an error-prone Kings unit to record their second win over them in a week.

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The Breakers have a two win and one loss record.

The Breakers collected 49 rebounds to Sydney’s 29, with 19 of New Zealand’s rebounds coming at their offensive end of the court.

Penney informed Breakers coach Paul Henare of his desire to play, a few hours before tipoff.

“We were preparing to play without Kirk and (then) he called me up at 5:00 today and said `can I come in?’ – of course I said yes, the boys were galvanised when he walked into the locker room,” Henare said.

Having beaten the Kings 87-85 on the buzzer last Friday, the Breakers were better again last night.

All the damage was done in the second quarter as the Breakers capitalised on Sydney mistakes to outscore the Kings 31-12.

Skipper Mika Vukona registered a double-double for the hosts, while import Edgar Sosa scored 19 points to go with seven assists.

“We had solid contributions across the board (and) they believe in themselves, but it’s a reasonably new group and we continue to grow – we’ll need to against a good side like Melbourne on the weekend,” Henare said.

Sydney sorely missed the accuracy and leadership of injured point guard and captain Kevin Lisch and they turned the ball over to New Zealand nine times across the four quarters.

The Breakers now head to Australia to play Melbourne on Sunday and then Brisbane on Thursday.

-RNZ

Picture: Paul Henare Photo: Photosport

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