Bullets rookies fire in narrow loss to Breakers

Rookie Brisbane Bullets pair Rocco Zikarsky and Josh Bannan did their best to get their team over the line on Wednesday night at Nissan Arena, but it wasn’t quite to be with the New Zealand Breakers prevailing 81-71.

With the rim protection that 17-year-old Next Star Zikarsky was providing, it was instrumental in Brisbane fighting back into the contest late in the third quarter and throughout the fourth.

Bannan was coming up big too holding down that power forward position until Casey Prather suits up on Saturday. That pair was instrumental in the Bullets grabbing the lead with four minutes to go.

However, New Zealand would soon go on a game-winning 12-0 scoring streak to secure the 10-point win to leave the Bullets having lost their past four matches with a 7-11 record.

While it was a solid defensive performance from the Bullets, shooting 33 per cent from the field and going 4/15 from deep made life challenging to put up a winning score as did the 15 turnovers despite going 21/26 at the foul line.

Captain Nathan Sobey once again top-scored with 16 points to go with four rebounds with 8/9 free-throw shooting while Chris Smith fought hard for 10 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

Bannan finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while Zikarsky played a career-high 13 minutes for a career-best seven points to go with four rebounds, two blocks and plenty more shots that he changed or intimidated.

Mitch Norton contributed nine points for Brisbane, Sam McDaniel seven points and five rebounds, Tyler Harrison three points, Shannon Scott three points, three rebounds and two steals, and Isaac White two points and two boards.

Anthony Lamb had 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for New Zealand with Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius scoring 15 points and the returning Zylan Cheatham 11.

After New Zealand scored the opening four points of the contest, Nathan Sobey started an 8-0 run for the Bullets when he knocked down a three-pointer to continue his scoring momentum from Christmas Eve.

Josh Bannan and Tyrell Harrison then completed that 8-0 run for the home team and even though Sobey did manage another three ball for the Bullets, by quarter-time scores were all square at 15-15.

The Breakers opened the second quarter strongly with a 10-2 run but Brisbane responded quickly and it was Chris Smith leading the charge. He scored seven straight points for the Bullets all on being aggressive taking the ball to the rack.

He scored again soon after to make it a one-point ball game and then after another 5-0 New Zealand streak, Rocco Zikarsky gave Brisbane a spark. It started with a block up one end on Daniel Fotu and then finishing an alley-oop up the other.

By half-time, New Zealand were narrowly leading 39-35 and it had been a defensive minded opening half with the Bullets shooting just 34 per cent from the field to the 40 from the Breakers.

The game of runs for either side continued in the third quarter with the Breakers making the first of them with scoring nine of the half's first 11 points to open up an 11-point advantage.

Brisbane again hit back, though, starting with an and-one from Bannan before a turnaround mid-range jumper from Sam McDaniel and then a finish in transition from Mitch Norton on the dish from Smith.

The Bullets went on another 7-0 run late in the third quarter including Smith hitting the team's third triple of the contest, but New Zealand still lead 59-53 by three quarter-time.

It was Bannan and Zikarsky as the Brisbane rookies who brought them further back into the contest in the fourth quarter. Bannan hit a three before Zikarsky completed a 7-0 run, and then a Zikarsky shot influence up one end led to a break finished by Mitch Norton.

That gave Brisbane the one-point lead with four minutes to play, but from there New Zealand took back control and scored 12 consecutive points to end up securing the 10-point road victory.

The Bullets have a short turnaround to being back at home on Saturday night at Nissan Arena once more to host the South East Melbourne Phoenix with Casey Prather set to make his debut for Brisbane.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

BRISBANE BULLETS 71 (Sobey 16, Bannan 14, Smith 10)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 81 (Lamb 18, Rubstavicius 15, Jackson-Cartwright 11, Cheatham 11)

BOX SCORE