Milton Keynes Breakers kick-started their preparations for the NBL Division 1 season with a 71-57 win over Essex Rebels.
Blayne Freckleton, Luke Gregory and Nate Robinson were the three recognisable faces to start in Saturday’s encounter, with KJ Johnson and Adrian Scarborough completing the starting five for Billy Beddow’s side.
It was the visitors, however, who opened the scoring as Winter’s three point effort was successful, starting the game in perfect fashion. Scarborough scored his first point in a Breakers jersey, but four points in quick succession from the Rebels put the visits in the ascendancy early on. The Breakers, however, soon found their feet in the game with Scarborough and KJ Johnson’s eye-catching plays impressing the home fans – with the latter tying the scores with his three point play.
The lead swung the way of the Breakers midway through the first quarter as Scarborough’s lay up put the Breakers up by two points. The two sides then exchanged leads a number of times, with the Breakers stand out moments coming from both Kai Walker and Kai Williams who each converted impressive three point efforts. Essex Rebels, however, closed out the quarter with the lead as Hudson’s floating jump shot gave the visitors a 18-17 lead.
After words of encouragement from Billy Beddow, the Breakers came out the blocks quickly, with Temi George’s dunk just 10-seconds into the quarter an impressive way to introduce himself to the Bletchley crowd. Luke Gregory followed up with a lay up, before Blayne Freckleton converted both his free throw efforts to put the Breakers ahead by three points. Adrian Scarborough continued to impress with his three point play bringing those in attendance to their feet, something he achieved shortly after with an impressive dunk following an offensive rebound.
Blayne Freckleton added another three points to the Breakers tally, with McIndoe adding two of his own shortly after following his own offensive rebound. Nelson, however, cut the Breakers lead by three points with an impressive effort from beyond the arc – leaving the hosts just two points ahead. Tory Mcindoe extended that lead to three points, however, the Rebels levelled the scores at 36-36 in the closing moments of the first half.
It was Nate Robinson who scored the first points of the second half following his driving layup, Kanwei and Busumbru followed with points of their own to swing the lead back in favour of Essex, before Scarborough converted yet another offensive rebound into two points. Luke Gregoy would do the same shortly after, before KJ Johnson’s driving layup put the Breakers four points ahead once more and a few minutes later picked up another two points in the same fashion. The same man was then in the right place at the right time to put the Breakers up by three.
Kanwei had other ideas, however, as he saw his third three point effort of the evening converted to once again tie the scores. Jaguar Jackson converted two free throws to put the Breakers back ahead, but Hudson hit straight back to draw level. The final points of the quarter came via McIndoe who converted the second of his two three throws giving the Breakers a 51-50 lead heading into the final quarter.
It was once again Robinson who scored the first points of the quarter, this time seeing his three point jump shot converted. Troy McIndoe and Temi George added two points of their own to start the quarter 8-0. Ashley, however, responded quickly to bring the Rebels back into the game as they trailed by six. KJ Johnson’s buzzer beater and Scarborough’s dunk gave Breakers their biggest lead of the game, which was extended to 12 following Johnson’s impressive lay up. Temi George then displayed both sides to his game as he picked up possession before successfully dunking to extend the Breakers lead to 14.
Robinson further extended the lead to 16 points with his lay up, Before Scarborough followed suit to put the Breakers up by 18, giving the Breakers a 12-0 run in the process. The Rebels continued to try to find their way back into the game and certainly gave the Breakers something to think about as they scored five without return to bring the lead down to 13 points with three minutes left to play. Blayne Freckleton stopped the Rebels’ run as he converted his free throw attempt to ensure the Breakers run out 71-57 in their opening pre-season game.
The Breakers are back in action next weekend as the KitKing Trophy gets underway. The team will travel to City of Birmingham Rockets on Saturday for a 19:30pm tip off, before returning home on Sunday to host Bristol Hurricanes, TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE.
