Breakers spoil Melbourne United’s NBL party and Wildcats claw Hawks

New Zealand Breakers spoiled the homecoming party for NBL reigning champions Melbourne United.

Tai Wesley of the Breakers, second from left, gets a pass away against Melbourne United at Melbourne Arena. Picture: Getty Images

New Zealand Breakers spoiled the homecoming party for NBL reigning champions Melbourne United with an 88-81 victory at Melbourne Arena yesterday.

United unfurled their 2017-18 championship banner in front of a large crowd but it was the visitors who celebrated a comeback victory after falling behind by 12 points in the opening quarter.

Former United star Tai Wesley came back to haunt his former club, scoring 21 points in a dazzling first-half display on his way to a game-high 25 points. Tom Abercrombie helped spark New Zealand’s second-quarter fightback, scoring 16 points to overtake Kirk Penney as the club’s highest scorer, while accurate long-range shooting from guard Patrick Richard (15) helped clinch the win in the final quarter.

Coming off a thrilling quadruple-overtime victory over the Illawarra Hawks on Friday night, United faded after the first quarter, with key imports Casper Ware and Josh Boone combining for just eight points.

“It’s hard to back up (after) a four-overtime game,” Breakers coach Kevin Braswell said as he praised the efforts of the United players for their energetic first half.

“They got tired and one of the things that we wanted to do was to push the pace and I thought we did a pretty good job of that for three-quarters of the game.”

Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman credited his opponents for making the most of their advantage. “You come off a game like we did, they did everything to make it hard for us tonight,” Vickerman said.

“They talk about their depth and they used it tonight … that was a good defensive effort from them.”

United were also without new import DJ Kennedy after the 198cm forward limped out of Friday’s win with an ankle injury.

Chris Goulding led United’s scoring with 22 points with assistance from David Barlow (15) and former Cairns Taipans guard Mitch McCarron (14).

Meanwhile, Perth Wildcats continued their unbeaten start to the new season with a dominant 101-61 win over Illawarra Hawks at Perth Arena.

After beating Adelaide 36ers by eight on Thursday night, the victory over the Hawks yesterday leaves the Cats the only side with a 2-0 start after an action-packed opening round.

Perth took early control and were never challenged by the Hawks. Coach Trevor Gleeson used his bench extensively but newcomer Terrico White was still able to knock down 20 points to lead the scoring.

Following Thursday night’s effort of having all 11 players hit the scoreboard against the 36ers, 10 scored points against the Hawks.

Only youngster Lochlan Cummings and captain Damian Martin failed to drop a basket but the MVP defensive player of the year’s three steals and nine assists were handy.

The Hawks struggled from the opening tip-off and were 12 points down at quarter-time.

They shot at just 40 per cent in the first 10 minutes and improved that to 41 per cent for the game.

The Wildcats, however, found plenty of scorers. Six Perth players were on the scoreboard by quarter-time and reigning NBL MVP Bryce Cotton had only three points. He finished with 15 despite playing just 25 minutes.

AAP