Breakers overrun Phoenix in final quarter

DJ Vasiljevic and Sam Mennenga teamed together for the first time ahead of NBL27 and combined for 51 points on 19/25 shooting to inspire the New Zealand Breakers to the 103-100 comeback win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Coming off the NBL Blitz in Bendigo where the Phoenix won both games against the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets while the Breakers lost to the Kings and beat the Tasmania JackJumpers, the teams continued their season preparations.

They locked horns at the home of the Eltham Wildcats in the NBL1 South at Montmorency Secondary College and South East Melbourne have looked well prepared in all their pre-season hit outs and made another strong start.

The Phoenix were leading the Breakers 32-25 by the end of the first quarter before both teams added 27 points in the second frame.

That saw South East Melbourne head into half-time leading 59-52 on the back of shooting 57 per cent from the field and 12/19 from the foul line with Angus Glover scoring 12 points and D'Shawn Schwartz 10 while they combined to go 5/9 from the outside.

New Zealand were shooting at a scorching 69 per cent including going 6/10 from three-point range but they did only have 29 shot attempts courtesy of 12 turnovers and just four offensive rebounds.

DJ Vasiljevic was warming up nicely making all five shots in the first half for the Breakers including 2/2 from deep for 13 points while 392-game veteran Reuben Te Rangi went 3/3 from long range for 12 points.

The Phoenix had another 26 points to 24 in the third quarter to stretch their advantage to 85-76 by three quarter-time with Glover adding another 11 points including two more triples to already have 23 for the game.

But the Breakers produced a huge finish and dominated the fourth quarter with 27 points to 15 including a tying three ball from Vasiljevic with two minutes on the clock.

Sam Mennenga then stepped up for two big buckets to have New Zealand on top by two inside the last minute before Charles Bediako hit a pair of free throws and Josiah-Jordan James made one to put them up three.

Tanner Krebs had a look at a three to force overtime for South East Melbourne but it wasn’t to be with New Zealand winning by three even with Parker Jackson-Cartwright playing just under 16 minutes.

The Breakers ended up shooting 61 per cent from the field for the game including 13/24 from the outside despite having 20 turnovers and just the nine offensive rebounds.

Vasiljevic fired for 29 points, five rebounds and two assists with 6/8 three-point shooting while Mennenga delivered 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 9/12 shooting in his first pre-season appearance.

Reuben Te Rangi ended up with 12 points that he had all in the first half with James adding 11 points, nine assists and three rebounds, Bediako 10 points, seven boards and two steals, and Preston Le Gassick eight points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Phoenix did take 13 extra shots for the game but couldn’t quite complete the win with Angus Glover finishing with 28 points on 6/11 shooting from the outside.

Skylar Mays also had 19 points and nine assists, D'Shawn Schwartz 18 points on 4/7 three-point shooting, Nathan Sobey 10 points, five assists, four boards and two steals, and Next Star Dash Daniels nine points and four assists.

The Phoenix now prep for their round 1 road trip to start their Hungry Jack's NBL27 season, with the Perth Wildcats in their season opener on September 19, before Tasmania JackJumpers on September 21.

FULL TIME STATS

Glover: 28p/3r/2stl
Mays: 19p/3r/9a/2stl
Schwartz: 18p/2r/1a
Sobey: 10p/4r/5a/2stl
Daniels: 9p/4a/2stl
Morin: 6p/4r/1blk
Aliir: 3p/2r/1a/1stl
Goodrick: 3p/3r
Hunter: 2p/2r/1stl/1blk
Krebs: 2p/1r/2a/2stl/1blk