After missing their first four shots, Justin Simon ended the drought to get the hosts on the board, but the Breakers had no such issues, jumping out to an 8-5 lead.
Hurting Sydney more than their poor shooting (6/17) was their turnovers (five in the first quarter), which combatted by nine first-period points by the Breakers’ forward, seeing the visitors carry a 22-17 into the first change.
Triples by Dejan Vasiljevic and Jaylin Galloway, and a nasty dunk by Xavier Cooks, kept Sydney’s scoreboard ticking over but the Breakers remained in front.
Scoring was again slow to start the third before Vasiljevic nailed another triple to make it 70-68 at three-quarter-time.
Four early points by Vasiljevic gave the Kings their first lead since the opening period but back-to-back floaters kept New Zealand’s noses in front.
Derrick Walton Jr then stepped it up for the harbour city, and with the assistance of Simon, helped the harbour city regain the ascendancy.
At the death, the Breakers were up by three before Tim Soares missed his chance to tie the game, with New Zealand taking the 93-88 win.
The first-placed harbour city side, who are now 17-7, hit the road in Round 17 and travel to Tasmania to play the JackJumpers from 7.30pm on Friday, January 27.
