Mooney stars as NZ beat Cairns in wooden-spoon battle

The NZ Breakers have ensured they will avoid the NBL wooden spoon after surviving a late scare to defeat the Cairns Taipans 99-92 in their bottom-of-the-table clash at Spark Arena.

The Breakers looked set for the easiest of wins after opening up a 21-point lead early in the final quarter of Saturday’s match.

A stunning 17-3 run from the Taipans got the margin back to seven points with two and a half minutes remaining, but NZ held their nerve at the death to ice the win.

There was late drama when a faulty shot clock may have given NZ extra time during a crucial piece of play, and Cairns coach Adam Forde unleashed his frustrations towards the referee.

But overall it was a deserved win for NZ, who were well led by Matthew Mooney (24 points, eight assists, three steals).

Mojave King (16 points), Tacko Fall (14 points, nine rebounds), Karim Lopez (11 points) and Sam Mennenga (10 points, eight rebounds) also played crucial roles for the Breakers.

The result improved NZ’s record to 10-18, meaning they can no longer be caught by Cairns (7-20).

For the Taipans, Pedro Bradshaw finished with 5-of-8 shooting from long range on the way to 16 points, while Sam Waardenburg (16 points) and Rob Edwards (14 points) also chipped in.

Bradshaw nailed three triples in the opening quarter as Cairns made a fast start to the match.

The Taipans led 16-10 midway through the first term before NZ found their groove.

The Breakers’ hot shooting meant they reduced the margin to two points by quarter-time, and they took it up a notch in the second term to enter the half-time break with a 54-49 advantage.

NZ shot a remarkable 8-of-11 from three-point range in the opening half, and went close to 90 per cent overall from the field.

Tensions briefly flared when Tanner Groves copped an accidental elbow to the face from 229cm Breakers centre Fall in the third quarter.

The Breakers already had five players in double figures with several minutes remaining in the third term as their lead extended to 11 points.

NZ finished the term strongly to take a 79-64 advantage into the final break, and the lead ballooned to 21 points in the last quarter before Cairns launched a belated fightback.