Box Score: Newcastle Knights 77 – 84 MK Breakers
Milton Keynes Breakers returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon as they overcame Newcastle Knights 84-77.
KJ Johnson led the scoring for the Breakers with 20 points, with Nate Robinson following closely behind with 19. Adrian Scarborough [14] and Kai Walker [11] both netted double figures for the Breakers – with Jordan Spencer grabbing 12 assists and eight points in his impressive performance.
The two sides went toe-to-toe in the first quarter with the biggest gap between the two sides favouring Newcastle at five points. Kai Walker’s three-point effort followed by four points from Adrian Scarborough drew the Breakers level before KJ Johnson closed out the quarter with his ‘and-one’ play to keep the Breakers ahead 20-19 at the end of the first.
The Breakers would start the second quarter on the front foot with Walker making yet another three point effort, this time after Tawiah calmly converted twice from the line. Newcastle, however, would continue to bite back at the Breakers and made it difficult for Billy Beddow’s side to run up the score. Although Newcastle didn’t take the lead in the second, they would twice tie the score, with the Breakers closing out the half with a 6-0 run as they entered the break with a 41-37 lead.
Tickets: MK Breakers vs Bradford Dragons 29th March
The third quarter belonged to Newcastle Knights as they outscored the Breakers 23-19 and closed out the final 5-minutes with an 11-2 run that would see the two sides enter the final 10-minutes on a level playing field. Frustratingly for the Breakers they had extended their lead to nine points after KJ Johnson, Nate Robinson and Adrian Scarborough produced a display of high-level scoring.
It was Newcastle who started the fourth in the ascendancy, however, as they climbed out to a three point lead, and despite KJ Johson eating into this advantage, Blain would hit back to push that gap back to three. The lead would swing back in favour of the Breakers as Scarborough, Robinson and Johnson all added two points to the score with the Breakers pushing that gap as far as six at one stage with KJ Johnson’s three-point jump shot.
The Knights would not be defeated, however, and pulled themselves to within two points of the lead, but a Nate Robinson sank his three-point effort with 16-seconds on the clock would seal the game for the visitors. Jordan Spencer put the final touches on the win as he went two-for-two from the line, securing the win for the Breakers.
The Breakers will now face Bradford Dragons this Saturday as they look to build upon their win and secure a home play-off fixture in the off-season. Tickets available HERE.
