Shane Heal sent the Breakers’ hopes of a finals berth spiralling on Thursday night as he guided the South Dragons to a four-point win at North Shore Convention Centre.

Heal was again the standout for South with 38 points, two boards and five assists for the night.

Breakers tall Ben Pepper opened the game with two from two at the stripe and went on to dominate for much of the first quarter.

Brent Hobba, Shane Heal and Frank Drmic contributed to the Dragons’ tally but it was a quiet term for South, who struggled to gain boards against a towering New Zealand line-up.

Kavossy Franklin (23 points, six boards, three assists) netted the first two points of the second term and was the Dragons’ go-to man for most of the quarter.

The Breakers’ total dominance of the offensive board count saw the home team out to a nine-point lead before Franklin and Heal teamed up to reverse the Dragons’ fortunes. Franklin and Heal scored 22 of South’s 26 points for the quarter to shore up a two-point advantage by the major break.

With just three seconds to play in the second term, Franklin netted two from two at the stripe to send South into halftime with a 51-49 lead.

While Pepper (13 rebounds), Mika Vukona (11) and Carlos Powell (10) were lethal under the rim, the Breakers’ accuracy from the field hovered at a low 43% and opened the door for South to gain control.

Shane Heal starred in the third term with 18 points to his name. In their best 12 minutes for the night the Dragons upped their defensive pressure to maintain control of the ball.

New Zealand gained momentum late in the term to reign the margin in to one point with under two minutes on the clock.

But South found all the right answers, netting a string of late goals to extend their lead to six points at the last break.

Rosell Ellis (16 points, six boards, one assist) took control of the Dragons’ scoring in the fourth term, shooting eight of his 16 points in a hard-fought final quarter.

Ellis guided the Dragons to a nine-point advantage midway through the term before the Breakers shot to within five points with two minutes left on the clock.

But South again pulled away to round out the win with two from two to Franklin at the charity stripe.

Heal later paid tribute to Rosell Ellis’ efforts against the Breakers’ talls.

“Rosell Ellis is tough,” Heal said.

“He’s fighting out of his weight class every week, he’s only about 6”5 and playing against Pepper who’s 7”, but he just fights and fights.”

Heal said tonight’s win would prove a major boost to the Dragons as they head into the playoffs.

“We want to take some winning form into the finals and hopefully go into Cairns and create an upset.”

South Dragons 106 (Heal 38, Franklin 23, Ellis 13, Hobba 13)
New Zealand Breakers 102 (Olson 26, Powell 21, Pepper 16)
@ North Shore Convention Centre, 01/02/07