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National

3rd quarter woes continue for NZ Breakers

Despite an ambitious comeback attempt in the 4th quarter, the Breakers fell to an on-form Melbourne United team at Spark arena last night, 101-104.

With a crowd of 8,371 watching at Auckland's, Spark Arena, the home-side played a routine first half, going into the main break with a two-point lead.

Then the third quarter happened.

It was an all too familiar scene from the Breakers, being simply outplayed by the visiting side, spearheaded by shooting guard, Chris Goulding who scored more points in the quarter than the entire Breakers team combined, with 16 to the Breakers 14.

With 8 minutes left to play in the fourth, the Breakers were down by 21.

What followed was an impressive display of fight and determination from the home team as they cut the lead to 3 points with 30 seconds left to play, however, despite a 26 point performance from new import, Glen Rice Jr, they were unable complete the fairy tale comeback.

The result again underlined just how close the league is this season with 20 of the 32 games (62%) played so far decided by single-figure margins.

Breakers Head Coach Dan Shamir at a post-game press conference:

"We're struggling. There's no way to hide it.

"We're in a moment where we need to fix a few things and get a few players back and somehow find a way to get a W."

Top Performers:

Glen Rice JR 26 pts - Corey Webster 20 pts, 8 reb - R.J. Hampton 16 pts, 7 reb