The Crazy John’s South Dragons went down in overtime by just one point to the New Zealand Breakers last night in a hard-fought battle to the death. (Click HERE for full box scores.)

Shane Heal (21 points, two rebounds, 10 assists) led the way for the home side in the opening term with 11 points on the board, nine of which came from behind the arc. Jacob Holmes (20 points, three boards, three assists) added five of his own but it was the Breakers who had the momentum early on, shooting out to an early lead courtesy of Rick Rickert and Oscar Forman.

Rickert (39 points, 19 boards, five assists) and Forman (15 points, 11 boards) took control for the Breakers, dominating the scoreboard and the rebound tally to see the visitors out to a three-point lead at the first break.

A quick two points to Cortez Groves (12 points, one board, four assists) kick-started the action in the second term before fellow import Nick Horvath (28 points, 10 rebounds) shot consecutive baskets to reduce the margin to a single point.

But just when it seemed the Crazy John’s South Dragons were set to assume the lead, the visitors found the net to maintain a slim buffer over the home side. With 10 points, six boards for the quarter Horvath made his mark on the game, but with Rickert and Forman continuing to wreak havoc from the field the home side went into the major break 49-53 in arrears.

Groves was again first to fire in the third term, with a trademark three-pointer from Heal not far behind to again cut the margin to one point.

Holmes, Horvath and Brent Hobba found their share of the ball in the third but New Zealand had answers to every basket and more, shooting at 70.6 per cent from the field to stretch the margin out to 10.

With the lead blown out to double figures for the first time the home side set about reeling in the deficit, Holmes hitting a three to round out the quarter with the scoreboard locked at 76-82 in the Breakers' favour.

A determined Crazy John’s South Dragons outfit came to play in the fourth quarter, with Holmes and Horvath teaming up to see the home side into the lead for the first time since the early minutes of the game.

That lead was stretched to four points before the Breakers returned fire, levelling the score at 95-all with just minutes left on the clock.

With 90 seconds to go New Zealand's Phill Jones hit a three before a quick succession of baskets saw the score out to 97-100 and it was do or die for the Crazy John’s South Dragons. From behind the arc Groves found the net to send the game into overtime.

With an extra five minutes on the clock, the Breakers raced out to a 106-100 lead before Groves, then Hobba, found the net to reel the margin back to two.

Paora Winitana was sent to the line in the dying minutes, converting two from two to return the buffer to four points before Groves again sank one from downtown to cull that deficit to one.

Having already saved the game once for the night Groves had a final shot at goal to stitch up the win but his last-ditch attempt fell just short, handing the Breakers a 109-110 victory.

The Crazy John’s South Dragons will meet the Breakers in game two of the pre-season double-header at Kilsyth Stadium at 7PM tonight.

Crazy John’s South Dragons 109 (Horvath 28, Heal 21, Holmes 20)
New Zealand Breakers 110 (Rickert 39, Forman 15, Jones 12)