Mojave King led the defensive job on Bryce Cotton and shot impressively, DJ Vasiljevic enjoyed his return, and Parker Jackson-Cartwright was at his match-winning best as the New Zealand Breakers beat the Adelaide 36ers 88-72.

The 36ers returned to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre having lost by 22 points back on Friday night in Wollongong to the Illawarra Hawks while the Breakers were beginning their October-long road trip coming off a strong home win over the Cairns Taipans.

The Breakers started the game on fire and Vasiljevic had 10 points in the first quarter to set the tone against his former team.

He came out on a mission and the Breakers had a degree of control of the game the entire way before breaking it open with two huge threes to start the fourth quarter courtesy of Jackson-Cartwright.

New Zealand continued to have all the answers to secure the 16-point win to improve to a 3-2 start under legendary coach Gordon Herbert holding the 36ers to 30 points on 13/34 shooting from the field and 2/15 from the outside in the second half.

The Breakers had 28 points to 12 in the last quarter to put a stamp on the result with Jackson-Cartwright ending up with 27 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

King was celebrating his 100th NBL appearance on one of his former home floors and delivered 18 points on 4/8 three-point shooting, with Sam Mennenga adding 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

Vasiljevic finished with 15 points and five rebounds without a three-point attempt in the second half, while Kouat Noi contributed eight points and four rebounds.

The Breakers did a stifling job on six-time MVP Cotton. While King was the leader of that, it was a team effort to limit him to 19 points and five assists with five turnovers and without a free-throw while shooting 8/18.

It was a tough home showing from the 36ers despite Nick Rakocevic continuing to step up in the absence of Isaac Humphries. He finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds with 14/22 shooting.

But the rest of the team combined for just 24 points on 8/28 shooting.

The final match of Round 3 got underway with the Breakers starting strongly with DJ Vasiljevic opening the scoring against his former team with the visitors racing out to the 9-2 advantage.

Vasiljevic ended up with 10 points in the first term with 2/3 shooting from three and New Zealand were still leading 23-19 by quarter-time while John Jenkins III and Zylan Cheatham had 12 points between them for the Sixers.

The Breakers retained a level of control through the second period as well and were still on top 48-42 by half-time with Vasiljevic up to 15 points on 3/5 from deep while backcourt partner Parker Jackson-Cartwright had 14 points and five assists.

New Zealand were shooting 7/15 from the outside and 9/14 at the stripe opposed to the 4/14 and 4/8 from the 36ers with Bryce Cotton not taking a free-throw attempt for eight points and two assists.

It was Nick Rakocevic the main reason Adelaide were in touch with 19 points and eight rebounds on 9/12 shooting to half-time.

The 36ers did get the game more on their terms in the third frame with Cotton scoring eight of their 15 points as they cut the Breakers advantage back to 60-57 by three quarter-time.

Jackson-Cartwright came out hot to start the final period with back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead back out to nine, and after Adelaide got it back to five, the Breakers responded with the next five including a triple to Mojave King to go up 10.

It was then a 12-point lead with two minutes on the clock before King sealed the deal with his fourth triple to push it out to 15 and New Zealand went on to win by 16.

The Sixers have a quick turnaround to hosting Melbourne United in an Ignite Cup by 7-Eleven match up on Wednesday while the Breakers head back to Perth to play the Wildcats on Saturday night.

ADELAIDE 36ERS 72 – NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 88

Adelaide 36ers
Nick Rakocevic – 29 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Bryce Cotton 19 points, 6 assists
John Jenkins III – 8 points, 3 rebounds
Zylan Cheatham – 8 points, 5 assists
Isaac White – 6 points, 3 rebounds

NZ Breakers
Parker Jackson-Cartwright – 27 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds
Mojave King – 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4/8 3PT
DJ Vasiljevic – 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3/5 3PT
Sam Mennenga – 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Kouat Noi – 8 points, 4 rebounds

Chris Pike

Clinical Breakers win big in Adelaide