NZ Breakers v Perth Wildcats: Sam Mennenga puts up 40 but Breakers beaten in Perth
A career night for big man Sam Mennenga wasn’t enough to lift the New Zealand Breakers above the Perth Wildcats.
The Breakers’ big man did everything in his power for the team, posting a massive 40 points, 18 rebounds and five assists, but the short-handed Breakers were comfortably beaten 100-84 in Perth.
It was always going to be a tough task for the Breakers after star point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright was ruled out due to a lower leg injury. The ailment is also expected to keep him out of the side’s upcoming away games against the Sydney Kings on Wednesday and the Tasmania Jack Jumpers next Sunday.
The American import was seen on pre-game footage using crutches as the Breakers entered RAC Arena.
“As with any player at the club, our priority is their health and wellbeing and, in this case, we are taking a cautionary approach with Parker. Our medical team have caught this early and will manage and monitor him carefully over the next few weeks,” Breakers president of basketball Dillon Boucher said.
Perth came into the contest as one of the fastest starters in the competition, making the most of a run of five straight home games to begin their campaign; their win over the New Zealand side lifted them to a 4-1 record.
The Wildcats were efficient in their work too.
The hosts made about 49% of their attempted shots, including 44% from three-point range.
That was led by the duo of Dylan Windler (32 points) and Elijah Pepper (25), who combined to shoot 22 of 33 from the floor, 12 of Windler’s 17 shot attempts coming from beyond the arc.
In Jackson-Cartwright’s absence, it was Carlin Davison who stepped up for the Breakers as a playmaker, dishing out a career-high 11 assists in 23 minutes off the bench.
While Mennenga had a big night – making 15 of his 26 shot attempts, including five of eight from deep, to score almost half of the Breakers’ points – Mojave King continued to make the most of his opportunities with the team with an efficient 17 points, while Dejan Vasiljevic struggled his way to 10 points from 14 shot attempts.
The hustle was there from the Breakers, out-rebounding Perth 47-36 and fighting hard at the defensive end, but accuracy let them down when firing from beyond the arc, shooting the three at 32%.
The Wildcats got hot from deep, especially in the final quarter when a run of three triples midway through the final term blew out the scoreline and had the home crowd on their feet.
“Congratulations to Perth, I thought our players fought well, we wanted to go inside as much as possible,” Breakers head coach Gordie Herbert said.
“For 30 minutes, we were in the game. Our players played hard, they gave everything they had. We wanted to establish an inside game; I thought Sam did a really good job of that. He had a huge game for us and kept us in the game most of the game.”
Mennenga reflected on a huge personal effort but was in no mood to look for excuses with his side missing not only Jackson-Cartwright but also Josiah Jordan James (hamstring injury) and Preston Le Gassick (neck and shoulder).
“You can’t let it define you, if you’re going to play the victim going into the game you have already lost the game. Next-man mentality is not having a choice, you can’t play victim, guys have to step up. Our effort was there for 30 minutes or so, but you need 40 minutes of good basketball to win games.
“Credit our guys though, they hung tough, played hard and gave it everything. We had guys playing in roles they are not used to playing. Rather than looking at who we don’t have or who we might have on the way, credit this group, we have something building here.”
The Breakers drop to 3-3 through six games of the season, having played four games on the road and now move on to Canberra to play unbeaten Sydney in an Ignite Cup game on Wednesday night.
They then round out their latest road trip with a visit to another hot side in Tasmania on Sunday, October 18.
Perth Wildcats 100 (Dylan Windler 32 points, 8 rebounds; Elijah Pepper 25 points; Jesse Wagstaff 13 points, 6 assists; Anthony Dell’Orso 10 points)
NZ Breakers 84 (Sam Mennenga 40 points, 18 rebounds, 5 assists; Mojave King 17 points; D.J. Vasiljevic 10 points; Reuben Te Rangi 9 points, 7 rebounds; Carlin Davison 11 assists)