WWAG Match Recap: Round 17 v New Zealand Breakers

Written by Melbourne United Media 

Melbourne United have fallen short of a sixth-straight win, going down in New Zealand against the Breakers.

United looked comfortable for much of the first term, never trailing during the opening 10 minutes.

Mason Peatling got Melbourne going on both ends to start the game, sending away a layup attempt before floating in a shot for first points of the game.

Following this, Rayjon Tucker put together a brilliant start, slipping past the defence for a pair of powerful dunks.

Solid contributions from the bench buoyed the visitors for the remainder of the period, as David Okwera produced terrific defensive plays while Isaac Humphries found the bottom of the net quickly in his return from injury.

United restricted NZ to their second-lowest scoring first quarter this season, taking a 19-10 lead into the break.

While Melbourne looked comfortable and calculated to start, simple mistakes hurt them in the second.

United racked up nine first-half turnovers, which opened the door for the Breakers to race back into the game.

Rob Loe played a significant role for NZ, scoring nine of their 21 points in the quarter.

Despite this run, Melbourne held tough, keeping the home side at bay through tough shot-making from the likes of Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Brad Newley.

After missing his first five attempts from long range, Chris Goulding got in on the fun, sinking a triple off a nice out-of-bounds play.

MU ultimately got their lead up to 11 points before a run from New Zealand closed the gap to just three heading into half time.

Coming out of the major break United looked strong, executing their opening play to perfection to secure Tucker an and-1 finish.

All of Melbourne’s starters were getting involved in the action, as CG43 and XRM sank important long-range makes while Peatling found Marcus Lee inside for an easy score.

Riding some strong momentum because of this and a Makuach Maluach three-pointer, United looked poised to push the lead back out, however the Breakers rallied.

Much like they did to end the second term, New Zealand blazed away to close the quarter, taking their first lead of the night off a Jarrell Brantley layup to beat the buzzer.

Needing to respond, Melbourne faltered to open the final 10 minutes, giving up an 11-0 run before David Okwera got his side going with a sky-scraping dunk.

Needing a miracle, United put together a valiant fight-back, closing the gap to six points in the final seconds, however it was too-little, too-late, ending their five-game winning streak.

Despite the loss, Melbourne remain in the hunt for the final play-in spot, depending on other results, with their entire season potentially coming down to their next game, a return to John Cain Arena on Sunday 5 February.

With tickets already sold out, fans who can’t make it to the game can tune in from 2pm via 10 Peach and Kayo Freebies.