New Zealand showed poise in their revenge win over the Perth Wildcats in Western Australia on Sunday night, just under a week after losing an overtime heartbreaker to them in Launceston.
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Depsite trailing by 13 points in the second half, the Breakers were able to claw back into the contest to beat the NBL20 champions 83-78.
A fourth-quarter steal and score off Bryce Cotton by Breakers captain Tom Abercrombie with 14 seconds to go saw his team to victory.
The move was all the more sweeter for the 33-year-old after Cotton spoiled his 350th game last week, sinking a three-pointer with less than a second to go.
Close games are decided over very small things that players make - these are big plays that only they can make
- Breakers coach Dan Shamir
Breakers head coach Dan Shamir said the team faced similar game circumstances to their match at the Silverdome last week in terms of scoring looks.
"The main thing that jumps out of the stat sheet is that Perth is a great offensive rebounding team, usually around 35 per cent, today with only 5 (per cent)," he said.
"Everybody contributed, [it] was a great win and we're very happy."
Shamir said both games came down to the wire and could be attributed to key plays at crucial moments.
"Five days ago was cruel, it was a brutal loss for us," he said.
"Close games are decided over very small things that players make - these are big plays that only they can make.
"Luckily on Sunday night, we had the last one - that's the beauty of it."
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Two major contributions were those of recent American Breakers signing Levi Randolph (23 points) and centre Colton Iverson (11pts, 17 reb).
While Shamir fancies himself as an analytics man, he jokingly said it was something about Iverson's shoes that allowed him to dominate on the rebound.
"It was the game against Brisbane four or five games ago - I didn't think I was going to play so I had some practice shoes, and [I] ended up being a game-time decision playing in shoes I don't really wear," Iverson said.
"I had 20 rebounds [that game] and then I packed them to this trip too since I only had three in the last game.
"I might switch back and forth ... depending on who we're playing."
Wildcats head coach Trevor Gleeson said everything turned for his team in the third quarter, and commended the Breakers' execution on both fronts.
"Randolph made a big impact on the game, we struggled to contain him in that period of time."
The Breakers play the Cairns Taipans on Friday at 7.30pm at the Silverdome.
Harry Murtough
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
