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Live sport on SN this weekendBreakers notch crucial win after Cairns coach ejected
Chris Pike, AAP •  January 18th, 2026 6:00 am
Izaiah Brockington finished with 24 points in the Breakers' win over the Taipans | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
The New Zealand Breakers have kept their NBL season alive, beating Cairns 104-86 at HoopsFest in Perth after Taipans coach Adam Forde was ejected from the game.
Forde has been left fuming and baffled all season long about the lack of calls point guard Andrew Andrews has been receiving.
That all spilled over midway through the second quarter at RAC Arena on Saturday with a no-call when Andrews took a hit to his head.
Forde let his feelings be known to the officials and was sent packing in his home town.
"I want to be real clear in everything that I want to do is the fact that I'm trying to back the guys," said Forde later.
"We talked about this a little bit in Illawarra and I said just let me wear this one (technical) and I had to make sure I got it, but then it was just bang, bang and I was like 'OK that's different', when he was just walking away.
"Then I just saw Drew in the corridor and just told him to go get it done for us because I'm in the back room."
Forde's Taipans kept on fighting, but the Breakers had too much to play for, and with Sam Mennenga dominant with 28 points and five rebounds, they scored a second straight win to stay in touch with the top six.
The Breakers started strongly to lead 26-21 with 12 first-quarter points from Mennenga, and while Andrews kept the Snakes close with his nine, it was a different story in the second quarter.
Cairns put up 30 points, including 13 each from Admiral Schofield and Mojave King.
The Breakers led 55-51 at halftime, before pushing out to a double-figure lead in the third term with nine straight points, which set them on the path to their 18-point win.
New Zealand (10-15) will now attempt to chase down the sixth-placed Tasmania JackJumpers (12-13).
Izaiah Brockington scored 24 points, Parker Jackson-Cartwright contributed 17 points, 10 assists and five steals, and Next Star Karim Lopez 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Breakers coach Petteri Koponen said: "The guys did a great job playing with effort and maybe it didn't show up yet in the first half, but in the second half they got tired and we were able to take the win.
"We only had four turnovers, we won the possession game by a lot (16 more shot attempts) and that usually puts you in a pretty good situation even with how Cairns shot the ball."
The Taipans (7-18) couldn't make it three straight wins for the first time this season, with assistant Will Lopez taking over coaching responsibilities from Forde for the last two-and-a-half quarters.
Schofield and King both scored 19 points for Cairns, but only managed a combined 12 outside of the second quarter.
Andrews ended up with 15 points and five assists, with Jack McVeigh having 13 points but on 4-of-13 shooting and unable to replicate his 47-point heroics the last time against New Zealand.
