The New Zealand Breakers capped their best NBL regular season in club history with an 87-74 win over the Melbourne Tigers at The Cage on Saturday night.

Having had first place wrapped up for several weeks, the Breakers ended the season at 22-6, easily eclipsing their 18-12 effort and third place in 2009.

The Tigers (10-18) finished out of the playoffs for the second straight season and will be looking to appoint a coach within the next few weeks in a bid to reverse their fortunes.

 

Interim coach Darryl McDonald is considered the favourite after assuming the job for the last 10 games and going 4-6, which does not look great on the surface, but he certainly did little wrong.

 

Although looking loose and relaxed, the Breakers were on their game early as they tuned up for the playoffs and led 27-20 at quarter-time with a good mix of offence and defence.

 

Athletic forward Thomas Abercrombie (11 points) got the Breakers cooking on offence and broke an 11-11 tie with a big three while the defence generated seven points from six Tigers turnovers.

 

The other concern to go with the turnovers for the Tigers was import guard Corey Williams (four points, eight assists, six turnovers) going to the bench late in the period with three fouls.

 

The second quarter was relatively tame as the Breakers nudged their advantage out to nine at the half, 45-36, before they took a hold on the contest during the third period.

 

As forward Mika Vukona (14 points, 6-8 FG) enjoyed one of his better offensive performances, MVP candidate Kirk Penney (12 points) finally got going too.

After hitting just two points in the first half, Penney had 10 for the quarter as the Breakers led by as much as 14 before settling for a 69-59 lead with one period to play.

 

Tigers big man Wade Helliwell (12 points, 5-7 FG) made an impact in the paint and guard Daryl Corletto (15 points) consistently made his shot, while Cam Tragardh (15 points) had 10 straight points during the third as he tried to keep his team in contention.

 

But it was all for little as the Breakers, who got a good second half from big man Alex Pledger (16 points, 10 rebounds) pushed the gap out to 17 in the fourth quarter as they eased to a 13-point victory.

 

The Breakers now go into a three-game semi-final series against the Perth Wildcats starting on Thursday with the winner advancing to the grand final against Townsville Crocodiles or Cairns Taipans.

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 87 (Pledger 16, Vukona 14, Penney 12) 

MELBOURNE TIGERS 74 (Corletto 15, Tragardh 15, Helliwell 12)