The Breakers are on a three-game winning streak at the top of the ANBL ladder after a hard-fought 91-77 victory over the beleaguered Melbourne Tigers in Auckland.

Long-time Tigers guard, Daryl Corletto, who was surprisingly dumped from the Melbourne roster after 10 years on the books, found sweet revenge against his former employers in a Breakers singlet at the North Shore Events Centre.

Corletto was instrumental in the Kiwi victory, his contribution significantly more valuable than the 12 points and sole rebound the final scoreboard reflected.

Corletto was the architect of a late, first-half Breakers drive, which transformed a very tight, scrappy affair into a comfortable halftime cushion for the defending champions.

A ragged opening quarter, which contained eight fouls, was locked up at 21-21 and it wasn't until three minutes from the halftime buzzer that the Breakers were able to finally engineer any breathing space.

With only two points in it, Corletto's three-pointer pushed the lead to five and prompted the Breakers to take the tie by the scruff of the neck.

Slick offensive execution, coupled with enforcing Tigers turnovers, saw the New Zealanders pile on a barrage of late points.

At halftime, the Breakers had somehow eked out a 10-point lead (43-33) from 20 minutes of basketball, which for the vast majority, had been very tightly contested.

With 10 points, Corletto led the Breakers' halftime stats, which was bettered only by the Tigers' Liam Rush with 13.

The scoreboard also reflected the host's strength in depth, with Tom Abercrombie (9 points), Mika Vukona (8), Alex Pledger (6) and Cedric Jackson (6) all adding valuable contributions.

The Tigers, on the other hand, were already proving heavily reliant on Rush at the scoring end with little in the way of support.

Once ahead, the Breakers have proven time and again that they're very difficult to claw back.

And once Gary Wilkinson and Alex Pledger found their respective strides, the scoreboard gap began to yawn.

In earnest, the Breakers never looked like letting their second win over the Tigers in 12 days slip away during the second 20 minutes, and were afforded a relatively comfortable end to the game.

Wilkinson led the final scoring with 21 points and seven rebounds, with good support from Corletto, Pledger (12/2) and Mika Vukona (12/7).

 

Tom Abercrombie had a relatively quiet night by his own high standards, notching 13 points, though he was on hand in the final minute for the alley-oop which has become something of a personal trademark.

In response, the Tigers duo of Rush and Daniel Dillon did their best to stem the flow with 18 points apiece.

But recovering from the thudding first half sucker punch dealt by the Breakers was always going to be a tough task for the Tigers, who for the time being remain on the fringe of the top four, but have now lost their last four fixtures on the bounce.

The Breakers' next game is against the Sydney Kings at Vector Arena on January 27.

The Kings have won just eight of their 18 games so far this season.