17 Dec 2011

Top of the table Breakers extend winning streak to five

8:23 am on 17 December 2011

The defending champion New Zealand Breakers have consolidated their position at the top of the Australian National Basketball League with a comfortable 85-65 win over Cairns in Auckland.

The victory was the fifth in a row for the New Zealanders, who extend their record to 10-3, while the mid-table Taipans drop to 6-6.

The Breakers guard Daryl Corletto scored a career-high 26 points and was lethal from three-point range, draining six of his eight attempts.

In the match-up between the American point guards, Breaker Cedric Jackson outplayed Taipan Jamar Wilson, finishing with 18 points, six assists and six rebounds.

Jackson also finished the night with a flourish, grabbing the Breakers' first 12 points of the fourth quarter, before the sequence was broken by yet another Corletto three-pointer.

The decisive stretch came in the second quarter, with Corletto the main protagonist.

The Taipans paid for repeatedly leaving the former Melbourne Tiger open and he kept sinking three pointers.

By the main break, Corletto was five from seven from beyond the arc and his 21 points for the half was a major contributor to the Breakers' 47-33 lead.

The match turned scrappy in the third quarter as defences came to the fore, but Jackson came alight in the last period as the Breakers pulled away.