Recap | Bullets lose OT thriller to NZ

The Brisbane Bullets did plenty right and got the game to overtime but ultimately it was the New Zealand Breakers prevailing 94-90 on Friday night in Auckland to start a big double weekend.

The Bullets arrived at Spark Arena looking to kickstart the double-header weekend that wraps up in RACQ Round on Sunday back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre against the Tasmania JackJumpers.

They started well too scoring 14 consecutive points either side of quarter-time to open up a 12-point advantage, but the Breakers pulled it back to level by half-time and it was a tight affair the rest of the way.

Even after another 10-0 run early in the fourth from Brisbane, New Zealand responded and in the end even in overtime when the Breakers got up six, Raul Neto responded with three free throws, and then a huge triple to tie scores up once more.

But with a triple-double from Carlin Davison and 36 points from DJ Vasiljevic, the Breakers ended up prevailing at home by four points after a 45-minute battle.

There were plenty of standout and gutsy performances across the board from the Bullets, and none more so than Nate Hinton finishing with 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocks along with doing a large share of the defensive job on Sam Mennenga along with Lat Mayen.

Tyrell Harrison had a huge third quarter with 10 points and finished the night with 22 to go with six rebounds on 10/13 field goal shooting.

Raul Neto delivered 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds on 5/7 three-point shooting with Taine Murray adding seven points and the one three-pointer he made was at a crucial stage.

Mitch Norton added six points and three assists, Archie Woodhill six points, four rebounds and two assists, Jaylin Williams six points and five rebounds, Mawot Mag three points, a rebound and a steal, and Mayen two points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists.

The Breakers made the perfect start to coming home with a triple from Carlin Davison, but the Bullets responded nicely, firstly with a 7-0 run to be leading 9-5 following a Raul Neto offensive rebound and putback.

Brisbane then also closed the last quarter scoring the last 12 points to turn a 14-12 lead for the Breakers to a 24-14 advantage to the Bullets by quarter-time with Neto and Nate Hinton having eight points apiece.

The Bullets scored the first two points of the second quarter with a bucket to Hinton to complete the 14-0 run and open up a 12-point lead.

But the Breakers did well to respond and outscored the Bullets 26 points to 14 for the rest of the half with scores all level at 40-40 by the half-time break.

The Bullets hadn’t made a free-throw in the first half missing all four attempts while the Breakers went 8/13 at the stripe but Brisbane were shooting 17/38 from the field and 6/19 from the outside to the 14/34 and 4/13 from the home team.

Tyrell Harrison had a huge third quarter for the Bullets with 10 points including a string of powerful dunks and that helped his team to the narrow 62-60 lead by three quarter-time despite another nine points from DJ Vasiljevic and with Carlin Davison closing in on a triple-double with eight points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Brisbane went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to open up a nine-point advantage, but the home team responded and with another dunk in transition to Davison, it was a two-point ball game with four minutes to play.

Taine Murray landed a huge three back in his hometown with 33 seconds to go to put the Bullets back up one before Vasiljevic went to the line up the other end to make one and tie the score with 23.4 seconds on the clock.

Will Weaver called the timeout to draw up the last play but the Breakers did well locking in on Neto and forcing a turnover.

Vasiljevic opened up with a triple in the extra period before Davison found Charles Bediako for a dunk but Brisbane again responded with the next six points from Neto to have scores level once more.

Vasiljevic then landed one from way downtown with a minute to go before the Breakers secured the win with yet another alley-oop dish from Davison to Bediako for the flush.

The Bullets now return straight home to play host to the Tasmania JackJumpers back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Sunday for RACQ Round.

GAME DETAILS

BRISBANE BULLETS 90
NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 94

Spark Arena (Auckland), Friday November 13

Tyrell Harrison – 22 points, 6 rebounds
Raul Neto – 20 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds
Nate Hinton – 18 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists
Taine Murray – 7 points
Mitch Norton – 6 points, 3 assists
Archie Woodhill – 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Jaylin Williams – 6 points, 5 rebounds