Breakers Bounce on Bullets in Launceston

The Brisbane Bullets have gone down to the New Zealand Breakers 91-71 in Launceston. 

Bullets Captain Jason Cadee was celebrating NBL game 300 but the Bullets were unable to rise to the occasion, with the Breakers leading from start to finish. 

It was a slow start by the Bullets and they were unable to stem the flow and after going to the half-time break down by 17, it was always going to be an uphill battle. 

It was a rough night all-round for the Bullets with Matt Hodgson top-scoring with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots on 8/12 shooting.

Nathan Sobey added 15 points and six rebounds while Lamar Patterson had nine points, Tamuri Wigness eight and Anthony Drmic eight.

Hostplus Head Coach Andrej Lemanis said turnovers were a contributing factor to the on-court struggles. 

"We turned the ball over 16 times and they had 26 points off our turnovers, to our eight, so that's always going to make it hard," he said. 

"We weren't able to get the flow that we wanted, five of those turnovers were from calls from others so that didn't help.

"I thought we had some improvement in the second half and started playing with a bit of grunt. 

"I think Tamuri was a big part of that, coming in and changinf the tempo a bit. he got to the rim and made some things happen. He was plus six on a night where you lose by 20, which is good for him. 

"Over the last few games we've seen some good improvement from Tamuri and he's been having a positive impact on games.

"We're in a dog fight," Lemanis said of the Bullets current ladder position. "We've got 14 games left and we'll come out prepared, pay attention to detail, eat right, get our sleep and practice hard."  

The Bullets travel to Perth to take on the Wildcats next Friday and then return home for an ANZAC Day (Sunday) clash against the Phoenix.  

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 91 (Randolph 20, Delany 17, Abercrombie 16)

BRISBANE BULLETS 71 (Hodgson 16, Sobey 15, Patterson 9) 

BOX SCORE