By Jonathan Healy at MSAC, Sportal
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Rhys Carter was the hero as the South Dragons moved further clear at the top of the NBL ladder with an epic 115-112 overtime victory over the New Zealand Breakers at Melbourne’s Sports and Aquatic Centre on Saturday night.
With scores tied and time running out, Carter coolly nailed a clutch three – his sixth of the game - from a metre beyond the arc to give the Dragons an unlikely victory in the top-of-the-table clash.
In a match that was played at playoff intensity throughout, the extra period was end-to-end basketball with the two best teams in the competition going at each other and hitting some unbelievable shots.
Carter’s three with 90 seconds remaining in overtime put the Dragons up by five, but Kirk Penney then CJ Bruton both connected from beyond the arc to tie the game with 24 seconds left.
But that only set the scene for Carter to wave all his team-mates away and land the biggest triple of his life.
"I couldn't be happier really," Carter said after the match.
"My form has been down lately in probably the last four or five games. I was well overdue to hit a shot. It has been weeks and weeks of airballs and bricks."
"I just kept thinking it is going to come to a game at some stage and finally it was tonight."
Carter finished the game with 25 points (6-of-10 three pointers), while Mark Worthington (27), Adam Gibson (18) and Donta Smith (13) provided him with plenty of support.
Penney led the Breakers with 32 points, while Tony Ronaldson (23), Oscar Forman (20 points with 6-of-9 from beyond the arc) and Rick Rickert (12 points, 10 rebounds) were excellent all night.
While disappointed to lose the match, Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis did say that he was happy with his side's return to form.
"I am proud of our team in the way we played and the way we fought," he said.
"It was an awesome overtime game and if you can't enjoy that, you don't enjoy sport at all."
"Obviously we would have liked to have won the game, but it was great to be a part of."
With Penney on fire from outside the Breakers rushed out to an 18-4 lead, before the Dragons worked their way back onto the game by moving to a full-court press on defence.
Smith and Carter came off the bench to contribute at both ends of the court as the Dragons responded with a 10-0 run of their own to draw within two (25-27) at quarter-time.
The Breakers shot an impressive 57 percent (12-of-21) from the field in the opening term and that trend continued in the second as firstly Ronaldson, then Forman connected from outside to restore the visitors’ double figure lead.
Carter was the architect in bringing the Dragons back into the contest, but it was Ronaldson once again that hit the big triple late in the second (from his usual spot right at the top of the arc) as the visitors went into the half-time break with a five-point (55-50) lead.
The intensity lifted in the third term as both teams attempted to gain control.
Worthington and Gibson combined to cut the Dragons’ deficit to one, but Forman then his back-to-back triples as the Breakers’ lead blew out again.
A technical foul on Worthington could have been costly for the Dragons, but Carter banked a three on the buzzer to ensure the margin was just five (79-74) at the final break.
Worthington banked a three of his own early in the fourth and when Nick Horvath drained an 18-footer from the baseline the Dragons had opened up a four-point advantage (89-85) with a little over six minutes remaining.
Two threes from Penney and one from Forman allowed the Breakers to wrest back the advantage and with 15 seconds remaining it looked like the visitors were home.
But Penney missed two free throws, before Carter hit one of his two from the charity stripe with just 1.2 seconds remaining to tie the scores at 100 as the teams headed into the extra period.
The Breakers struck first in overtime with Paul Henare a perfect 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, but the Dragons struck back immediately through Nathan Herbert and Mika Vukona.
Some big threes from Penney and Bruton gave the Breakers a chance to force a second extra period, but Carter stepped up when required to clinch it for the Dragons.
The Dragons (18-6) enjoy some time off before tackling the Melbourne Tigers on January 26, while the Breakers (15-7) host the Crocs on Thursday.
South Dragons 115 (Worthington 27, Carter 25, Gibson 18)
New Zealand Breakers 112 (Penney 32, Ronaldson 23, Forman 20)
@ Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Crowd: 1994.