Melbourne United claim comeback win over New Zealand

Melbourne United completed an 18-point second-half comeback against the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday night at Bendigo Basketball Stadium behind a monster Mitch McCarron performance.

New Zealand was the team that started best, jumping out to a 12-5 lead after four minutes of play with Rasmus Bach doing the damage with two early triples.

Led by McCarron, Melbourne fought their way back into the game as he scored six early points to get the scoreboard ticking over for United. The highlight of the first quarter was produced by Yudai Baba when he grabbed a steal of an inbounds pass and took the ball to the other end of the court for an impressive dunk.

Baba’s defence changed the game and when he scored that dunk, United evened the scores at 16 with three and a half minutes left in the quarter. Shea Ili got hot late in the first term with a pair of triples, but Bach and Finn Delany answered for New Zealand and at the first break, scores were tied at 26.

After fighting their way back into the contest, United was unable to keep that intensity they showed late in the first quarter in the second term. It was a quarter dominated by the Breakers as they shot the lights out from deep with Delany, Bach and Jeremy Kendle on fire.

Despite McCarron doing all he could, New Zealand pushed ahead thanks to a 15-2 run with Colton Iverson getting busy. A David Barlow three-pointer ended that run but the Breakers kept going and a Kendle layup with 17 seconds left in the first half gave New Zealand a game-high 16-point lead at the main break, 54-38.

McCarron (10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists) was leading the way for Melbourne, while Delany (12 points), Iverson and Bach (11 points each) were pacing New Zealand.

Chris Goulding and Landale got early buckets to start the second half, but Delany answered on the other end with a pair of buckets and when Webster scored on a drive, the Breakers held an 18-point lead, 62-44, after four minutes of play.

McCarron, who had given it his all in the first half, continued to answer the call in the third quarter with magnificent fighting spirit. He led a Melbourne comeback with relentless effort and energy and scored at will to kickstart game-changing run of points for United.

McCarron was involved in everything, while buckets to Barlow, Ili and Goulding saw Melbourne go on a huge 15-0 run over just under five minutes of game time. Jarrad Weeks drained a triple late in the term for New Zealand, but Melbourne had themselves well and truly back in the game at the final break, trailing by six points, 65-59.

With United having lifted the defensive intensity in the third term, holding the Breakers to just 11 third-quarter points, that trend continued in the fourth quarter as Melbourne continued their fightback.

Landale and Ili scored early in the term, before Baba’s defence really kicked into gear and gave his team even more energy. He drew an offensive foul, before grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring to bring Melbourne to within two points, 70-68, after three minutes of action.

With just under five minutes left in the game, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. drained two key buckets to firstly give Melbourne the lead and then build on that to have United up by three points, 73-70, with 3:33 on the clock.

Having grabbed the lead, Melbourne wasn’t content and it was a play that started with a Landale block and ended with a Goulding triple that had United fans cheering a six-point lead. Weeks responded once again with a triple and when Tom Abercrombie scored, it was back to a one-point game, 76-75, with two minutes remaining.

An Ili layup gave Melbourne some breathing room, before a beautiful Baba fastbreak layup further broke the back of New Zealand. Ili scored again with 24 seconds on the clock to put the game to bed and eventually, United ran out 82-79 winners to claim back-to-back wins.

McCarron (16 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists) was simply superb in a performance to remember, while Landale (12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks) and Ili (16 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists) were relentless.

Goulding (13 points and 3 rebounds) once again was important in the second half for Melbourne.

Delany (17 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists), Kendle (13 points) and Bach (12 points) were the leading scorers for New Zealand.

With two wins in a row, United now owns a 12-5 record ahead of Throwdown VII on Saturday night against the South East Melbourne Phoenix. Tip off is at 8:00pm at John Cain Arena.