The Sydney Kings have heaped more misery on the struggling New Zealand Breakers after cruising to a 96-78 victory in the NBL Cup. The Breakers entered Thursday's contest at John Cain Arena with one win from their opening six matches but hopes of a morale-boosting victory were dashed following a disastrous second-quarter collapse. A promising start saw New Zealand grab a 13-point lead but the Kings outscored them 26-6 in the second quarter to complete a 23-point turnaround and lead by 10 at halftime. With young guns Jordan Hunter and Dejan Vasiljevic leading the charge, the Kings maintained their edge in the second half to celebrate guard Shaun Bruce's 200th NBL game in fine style. Hunter made all nine of his shot attempts on the way to a career-high 24 points while Vasiljevic (20 points, 10 rebounds) registered his first NBL double-double. "Against Perth, we gave up 113 points which is something we don't want to be doing," coach Adam Forde said after the Kings grabbed their second win of the NBL Cup and improved their overall record to 5-5. "For the most part defensively, even when other aspects of our game plan were not as clean as we wanted it to be, we could always come back and get some stops." With Lamar Patterson sidelined for four-to-six weeks with a knee strain, Corey Webster took charge of the Breakers' offence to lead the team with 24 points while his brother Tai added 18. But the nature of their capitulation resulted in coach Dan Shamir choosing to avoid commenting on their promising start to the match in his post-match press conference. "It's a little bit embarrassing for me to talk about the first quarter since it was another game where we're not competitive," Shamir said after New Zealand slumped to their fourth loss in a row. "It does show that we have some good basketball in us. But it gets tougher and tougher with every day like that but it only means that each and everyone needs to step it up and keep fighting." New Zealand opened the match with a 12-2 spurt and Corey Webster closed the first quarter with 13 points to establish a 30-20 advantage for the Breakers. But the momentum shifted as Sydney's defence locked in during the second period, setting up a 10-0 start, and the Kings pulled away courtesy of Hunter's efficient scoring under the basket and Vasiljevic's rebounding and long-range shooting. New Zealand found more avenues to the basket in the second half but the Kings still managed to extend their lead 68-55 after three quarters and Casper Ware added 10 points in the final term to finish with 19 for the game. Australian Associated Press
Jordan Hunter of the Sydney Kings had a career-high 24 points against the NZ Breakers.
The Sydney Kings have heaped more misery on the struggling New Zealand Breakers after cruising to a 96-78 victory in the NBL Cup.
The Breakers entered Thursday's contest at John Cain Arena with one win from their opening six matches but hopes of a morale-boosting victory were dashed following a disastrous second-quarter collapse.
A promising start saw New Zealand grab a 13-point lead but the Kings outscored them 26-6 in the second quarter to complete a 23-point turnaround and lead by 10 at halftime.
With young guns Jordan Hunter and Dejan Vasiljevic leading the charge, the Kings maintained their edge in the second half to celebrate guard Shaun Bruce's 200th NBL game in fine style.
Hunter made all nine of his shot attempts on the way to a career-high 24 points while Vasiljevic (20 points, 10 rebounds) registered his first NBL double-double.
"Against Perth, we gave up 113 points which is something we don't want to be doing," coach Adam Forde said after the Kings grabbed their second win of the NBL Cup and improved their overall record to 5-5.
"For the most part defensively, even when other aspects of our game plan were not as clean as we wanted it to be, we could always come back and get some stops."
With Lamar Patterson sidelined for four-to-six weeks with a knee strain, Corey Webster took charge of the Breakers' offence to lead the team with 24 points while his brother Tai added 18.
But the nature of their capitulation resulted in coach Dan Shamir choosing to avoid commenting on their promising start to the match in his post-match press conference.
"It's a little bit embarrassing for me to talk about the first quarter since it was another game where we're not competitive," Shamir said after New Zealand slumped to their fourth loss in a row.
"It does show that we have some good basketball in us. But it gets tougher and tougher with every day like that but it only means that each and everyone needs to step it up and keep fighting."
New Zealand opened the match with a 12-2 spurt and Corey Webster closed the first quarter with 13 points to establish a 30-20 advantage for the Breakers.
But the momentum shifted as Sydney's defence locked in during the second period, setting up a 10-0 start, and the Kings pulled away courtesy of Hunter's efficient scoring under the basket and Vasiljevic's rebounding and long-range shooting.
New Zealand found more avenues to the basket in the second half but the Kings still managed to extend their lead 68-55 after three quarters and Casper Ware added 10 points in the final term to finish with 19 for the game.
Australian Associated Press
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