Box Score
MK Breakers: 110 (37, 61, 83, 110)
St Helens Saints: 66 (30, 45, 51, 66)
The MK Breakers advanced to the NBL Division 2 Playoff Final with a commanding 110-66 win over St Helens Saints in front of another sold-out home crowd at Bletchley Leisure Centre.
The win sets up a final against league rivals Team Solent Kestrels, who the Breakers defeated 104-96 on the final day of the regular season to secure the league title back in March by just 1 point. The Kestrels defeated NBL2 North Champions Bristol Hurricanes 110-51 in their semi-final match up.
The final will be on Saturday 27th April, 6pm tip off at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester. Tickets are available here via the Basketball England website. We will be announcing details about fan buses shortly.
Jordan Spencer led the Breakers with another eye-watering triple-double of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists. He was well supported by Nate Robinson and Dante Langley who finished with 20 and 16 points respectively.
Tyrell Brown opened the scoring for the visitors with a 3-pointer before Chris Tawiah scored the Breakers’ first points of the evening with a poster dunk over a St Helens defender. A high-scoring first quarter was capped off by a 3-point buzzer beater from Jordan Spencer, who scored 16 first-quarter points. The Breakers led 37-30 after 10 minutes.
Dante Langley, playing his last home game for the club, opened the scoring in the second quarter from beyond the arc. Tawiah would then assert his dominance inside, scoring 9 points in 3-minute stretch to push the lead out to 51-37 with 5:55 left in the half. St Helens fought back once again through Brown and Disraeli Lufadeju to reduce the gap to 7, but a 10-1 run to finish the half, capped by another Langley 3 gave the home side breathing room at the half, 61-45.
The Breakers produced their best defence of the game in the third quarter, holding the visiting Saints to just 6 points in the period. Stellar defence from Nate Robinson helped keep the St Helens key threats at bay as he proved a nuisance on defence all game. Luke Gregory and William Issekya provided energy off the bench as the home team asserted their dominance on the game to lead 83-51 with 10 minutes to play.
A change in defence from St Helens to start the final quarter provided open shots on the perimeter for the Breakers, with Spencer, Blayne Freckleton and Robinson all connecting on 3-pointers to the delight of the home crowd. A Robinson dunk put the Breakers on 99 points before Leon Henry’s lay-up took the home team over the 100-point mark for 21st time season.
Coach Beddow emptied the bench and the fans rose to their feet to applaud Dante Langley as he stepped off the court at Bletchley Leisure for the last time.
Almost 500 Breakers fans travelled to Manchester back in January for the National Cup Final, we hope to see another #SeaofRed in the crowd as the team look to cap off a historic season, aiming to complete the Treble of the League, Cup & Playoff titles.
