Breakers rally late for victory

BASKETBALL CAIRNS: New Zealand has kept its NBL finals hopes alive with an 11point win away win over Cairns last night.

Former Taipans player Jarrad Weeks led the Breakers’ scoring with 17 points in the 8978 victory at the Cairns Convention Centre.

The contest between the NBL’s two bottomplaced sides never reached any great heights, but the Breakers fired late to beat the outofform Taipans and stay in touch with the NBL’s top four.

The transtasman visitor trailed 2019 at the first break, but found an extra gear in the second quarter to lead by six at halftime.

That margin was blown out to 11 in the third term before Cairns went on a huge scoring run to restrict New Zealand and hold a threepoint lead over the Breakers.

But the home side’s hopes of a win were dashed as the Kevin Braswellcoached Breakers took control in the last quarter.

They outscored the Taipans 2713 in the final stanza to win their fifth game of the season.

The Breakers had a range of scorers, as American import Shawn Long (16), skipper Tom Abercrombie (14), Shea Ili (14) and Tai Wesley (11) all registered double digits.

Long had 13 rebounds and Wesley finished with five assists.

Melo Trimble led Cairns’ scoring with 23, including two from the perimeter, while Devon Hall (14) and Nate Jawai (11) also contributed.

The Taipans have lost 11 in a row since their openinground victory against Brisbane and must rally quickly before hosting Sydney on Thursday night.

New Zealand returns home to play Illawarra on Friday night. — AAP