31 Jan 2020

Captain keeps Breakers NBL finals hopes alive

10:33 pm on 31 January 2020

New Zealand Breakers captain Tom Abercrombie lead his side to a 113-89 thumping of the Adelaide 36ers in the NBL on Friday.

New Zealand Breakers' Tom Abercrombie

Tom Abercrombie Photo: PHOTOSPORT

The Breakers have won eight of their last 11 games and remain an outside finals chance should things fall their way and they win their remaining matches against Illawarra, Brisbane and South East Melbourne.

The 36ers were fighting to keep their season alive too and Daniel Johnson kept them close in the first half, but it wouldn't last.

Adelaide has now lost three straight and at 11-14, their season's done.

The Breakers virtually got whatever they wanted offensively illustrated by their final numbers of shooting 57 from the field and 54 per cent from deep on the back of 20/37.

They shared the ball well too for 24 assists while only having eight turnovers.

Abercrombie showed that he has plenty more to add to his 328-game NBL career by leading the way with 31 points and three assists including 7 from 11 from three-point range.

Finn Delany continued to highlight his importance to the Breakers with 21 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks

Sek Henry added 18 points and eight assists with Scotty Hopson contributing 13 points and Jordan Ngatai eight which including a rim-rattling dunk after a crafty steal.

The longer the game went, the more the wheels came off for Adelaide. Johnson kept them in it with 20 first-half points as he finished with 24 for the game to go with nine rebounds and three assists.