Melbourne United have stored their flickering NBL finals hopes alive with a 77-65 victory over the travel-weary New Zealand Breakers at Christchurch Arena.
United have been by no means headed in Thursday evening’s defence-dominated conflict, piloted by bench veterans Xavier Rathan-Mayes (20 factors) and Brad Newley (14).
Eighth-placed Melbourne moved to 12-12 after securing their third successive win and their sixth from their previous seven outings previously month, their solely loss in that stretch coming to rampant title favourites Sydney on Christmas Day.
“Big win for us; we’re playing good basketball right now,” Rathan-Mayes mentioned.
“We’re trending in the right direction and hopefully we can keep this rolling.
“It confirmed the character of our group, down (David) Barlow (concussion), down ‘Ice’ (Isaac Humphries, knee pressure), to have the ability to come out and play like this, we’re happy with it.”
Jarrell Brantley (17 points) was the leading scorer for the third-ranked Breakers, whose offence spluttered all evening in the absence of star import Barry Brown Jr, the league’s third-leading scorer, with a groin injury.
Playing their third game in five days – the previous two in Adelaide, then Perth – and without their best player, the Breakers appeared to run out of puff on return the New Zealand soil.
All nine Melbourne players had already hit the scoreboard by early in the second stanza.
The Breakers connected on only two field goals in that second quarter, the majority of which saw their half of the court cloaked in darkness after the manual lights had collapsed.
Rathan-Mayes finished the half with a powerful reverse layup for a three-point play and continued his hot form in the third, stretching United’s buffer to 15 points.
Izayah Le’Afa poured in 11 of the Breakers’ 17 third-quarter points, including three triples, to trim the deficit to single digits.
Rayjon Tucker, effectively held for a lot of the match, produced a second of brilliance within the fourth time period when he misplaced his proper shoe earlier than someway discovering Mason Peatling with a behind-the-back move for a bucket as Melbourne cruised to the end line.
