William McDowell-White had a rare triple-double for the Breakers in their victory over Brisbane.
Far from being overcome with joy at the prospect of returning to New Zealand in a month to finish their NBL season, the “heartbroken” Breakers had to swallow their emotions to tick off an important victory in Launceston on Friday night. They did it impressively, romping to a 91-71 victory over Andrej Lemanis’ Brisbane Bullets at their allocated “home” venue the Silverdome to snap a three-game losing streak behind an outstanding triple-double from Aussie point guard William McDowell-White. But as coach Dan Shamir revealed afterwards, it was a performance not without its challenges as his players picked up the pieces from an agonising overtime defeat to the Perth Wildcats at the same venue on Tuesday. That had been quickly followed by news they would not return to New Zealand until mid-May for seven straight home games – a month after the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble.