NBL22 Match Recap: Round 12 v New Zealand Breakers

Written by Melbourne United Media

Melbourne United have blown out the visiting New Zealand Breakers for their third win in a row, completing a sweep of the season series.

United got off to a fantastic start, finding Caleb Agada for a corner three for the first score of the game, however New Zealand hit back quickly.

The visitors put together a strong run, pushing ahead 12-9 after a few minutes of play.

Keen to wrestle back control of the matchup, Melbourne’s defence stepped up.

Ariel Hukporti made his presence felt early, blocking a pair of shots to help jumpstart a United run.

The defending champs ended the quarter on a 21-9 run thanks in part to 10 points in the period from Agada, and some nice bench minutes from the Workhorse Mason Peatling.

 Looking to maintain their momentum, Melbourne put together a 10-0 run to start the second term, with five of those points coming from the ageless Dave Barlow.

With their defence firing and the lead up to 20 points, United brought in some of their young guns.

Zac Triplett and Callum Dalton checked into the game, with the latter getting on the score sheet thanks to great ball movement.

After only allowing two points from the Breakters across the first five minutes of the quarter, Melbourne rode their suffocating defence into half-time, leading 60-33.

It was more of the same after the major break, as United stayed one step ahead of the Breakers.

Jack White and Shea Ili shut down everything New Zealand threw at the home hide, coming up with a number of highlight plays, including a great steal from Shili, leading to a Brad Newley dunk.

Limiting the Breakers to just 11 points in the third, United took a 40 point lead into the final 10 minutes.

With the result all but decided, United cruised to victory, providing some highlight plays along the way.

Big A threw down a giant jam, Zac Triplett lobbed up a lovely alley-oop to Jack White, and White added a solo slam of his own to close the 108-73 victory.

United shattered a number of team and season records, including registering 31 assists (franchise record), and finishing with the highest half-time score, highest three-quarter-time score, and highest full-time score of NBL22.

The win keeps United on top of the NBL22 ladder heading into a road game Cairns next Sunday afternoon.

It will be Melbourne’s first game against the Taipans, who are the only team United haven’t beaten so far this season.

United will then return to JCA for Round 14 and 15. Tickets for those home games are available here.