Kings beat Breakers with 16-3 run

Despite being winless since the addition of Tacko Fall, the New Zealand Breakers enjoyed their return to Spark Arena but it wasn’t quite enough with Jaylen Adams coming up huge late as the Sydney Kings prevailed 92-84.

The Breakers were leading most of the game including by as much as eight in the fourth quarter but the Kings closed proceedings with a stunning 16-3 run to go from five points down with just under three minutes to play before winning by eight.

The Breakers were playing their first game in their home building since November 2 having played their last nine games all in a different venue including in Wellington, Christchurch and on the North Shore of Auckland.

They were back to Spark Arena on Friday night to open Round 13 in the NBL and it was a different looking Breakers outfit to the one that had lost their past six matches by an average of 22 points.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright hit huge threes both to go into half-time and three quarter-time to ensure the Breakers held a lead and they were back out to an eight-point edge early in the fourth term.

The two teams traded huge buckets from there before Kouat Noi put Sydney in front with just over a minute and-a-half to play before Adams pushed the Kings lead to three, and soon after to four to secure the eventual eight-point win.

The Kings have now won three straight at 11-7 with Noi delivering 26 points on 10/14 shooting with Alex Toohey tremendous with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Adams ended up with 17 points, nine assists and eight boards, and Xavier Cooks 12 points, six rebounds and six assists.

"Who knows what's going to happen from here, but we have positioned ourselves nicely" Kings coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We've got a nice record, we're sitting in a nice spot. I like the way we're progressing."

The Breakers were vastly improved despite the seventh consecutive defeat with Jackson-Cartwright ending up with 25 points and eight assists.

Karim Lopez also had 18 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Tacko Fall 15 points and nine rebounds on 7/11 shooting.

"We lost our poise," Breakers coach Petteri Koponen said.

"We stopped sharing the ball, we lost patience. Small details in the end.

"But we gave them a fight. That's why this one hurts."

It was Next Star Alex Toohey inspiring Sydney early scoring his team's first nine points of the contest as they opened up a 9-4 lead on the down on confidence home team.

The Kings were then leading 11-6 but the Breakers got rolling in their first game inside Spark Arena for more than six weeks starting with a triple from Jonah Bolden against his former team.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright added the next five points and Bolden completed the 13-0 run with another long ball and New Zealand went into quarter-time leading 19-15.

The Breakers pushed their advantage out to as much as eight in the second period as well but Kouat Noi sparked the Kings back into the contest with 15 points of his own in the quarter.

However, New Zealand were still leading 51-44 by the break with a stunning off-balance three on the buzzer from Jackson-Cartwright who went into the break with 18 points and his team shooting 57 per cent opposed to the 45 from the Kings.

Matt Mooney and Jackson-Cartwright hit threes to start the second half as well and the New Zealand lead was out to nine points but Sydney answered with the next 10 points including a triple from Tyler Robertson.

Again Cartwright hit a huge three on the buzzer for three quarter-time to keep the Breakers leading 69-67 but again early strong finishes around the basket from Karim Lopez, Tacko Fall and Max Darling helped the home team open up an eight-point edge once more.

Sydney again responded with the next six points before Fall and Noi traded inside buckets, and then Grant Anticevich and Toohey swapped three balls before Adams tied scores up with the bucket for the Kings.

Noi hit another three with 1:30 to play to give Sydney the one-point edge and then two huge buckets to Adams, and in the end the Kings finished with 16 of the game's last 19 points to win by eight.

Both teams now take part in NBL Christmas Day action with the Breakers on the road to the Tasmania JackJumpers while the Kings will be at home after that to the league-leading Illawarra Hawks.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 84 (Jackson-Cartwright 25, Lopez 18, Fall 15)

SYDNEY KINGS 92 (Noi 26, Toohey 21, Adams 17)

BOX SCORE