Basketball: Breakers end year with win

The New Zealand Breakers finally broke their New Year's Eve drought with a 66-61 victory over the Cairns Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre last night.

Having never won before on December 31, the league leaders and defending champions ended 2012 in style with their 10th win of the season.

Import Cedric Jackson once again led the way for the Breakers with 17 points and six assists while fellow American Will Hudson chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Jamar Wilson had a game-high 23 points for Cairns, but had little support from his teammates with Dusty Rychart the next best scorer with eight points.

The Breakers still took away the win despite a dreadful shooting display, making just 38 percent from the field and 48 percent from the free throw line. Cairns were equally woeful, however, scoring just eight points in the opening quarter to trail 16-8.

In a low-scoring affair the Breakers led 35-24 at the break and took a 54-44 led into the final quarter before the Taipans finished strongly to make the scoreline look somewhat respectable.

The Breakers travel to Wollongong to face the third placed Wollongong Hawks on January 5, who will be looking to bounce back from a New Year's hangover after falling to the seventh-placed Melbourne Tigers 80-72 last night.

Breakers 66 (C Jackson 17 W Hudson 12 C Bruton 10), Taipans 61 (J Wilson 23 D Rychart 8 C Tragardh 6 S Edwards 6 A Loughton 6).