Quiet one
Years ago
Tigers down breakers again
Sunday, 14 August 2005 @ 9:58 PM
sportal.com.au
The Melbourne Tigers have won their second practice match in three days against the New Zealand Breakers, beating their Trans Tasman rivals 125-70 in Melbourne.
Melbourne was without stars Darryl McDonald and Dave Thomas but still had seven players who finished with double figures.
Chris Anstey starred again with 31 points and 13 rebounds, while Rashad Tucker just missed a triple double, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Daryl Corletto added 18 points.
Import Brant Bailey top-scored for the Breakers with 22 points, but also had 10 turnovers, while Ben Pepper added 14 points.
Tigers coach Al Westover credited his side's defensive efforts, forcing the Breakers to commit 37 turnovers, for the win.
"It is the defence that is fuelling the offence at this stage, we have great pressure on the ball and especially off the ball which allows us to get into our running game," Westover said.
"Our intensity in the way we're running the floor is probably what we're doing best and those are the things we've been emphasising."
The Breakers started with greater intensity than in the match in Hobart on Friday, with Bailey on fire from outside the three-point arc.
Westover called a timeout to break the visitors' flow and his comments to his players worked as they returned to put together a 13-0 run and take a 31-19 lead into the first break.
The Tigers forced 12 turnovers in the second quarter pushing their lead out to 26 points, but a late run from the Breakers reduced cut it back to 64-45 at the main break.
Daryl Corletto sparked a 16-4 run in the third term, helping the Tigers to a 96-58 lead at the final break and the hosts didn't take the foot off the pedal in the final quarter, playing much of their bench to blow out the lead to 55 points at the final buzzer.
"It was a great team effort once again. We're really happy with how our weekend has gone and we've got to build on this from now on," said Westover.
Melbourne Tigers 125 (Anstey 31, Corletto 18, Tucker 17)
New Zealand Breakers 70 (Bailey 22, Pepper 14, Behrendorff 12)
@ Knox Basketball Stadium, Melbourne 14/8/05.
