The New Zealand Breakers completed a successful ‘sunshine swing’ road trip with a 73-54 win over the Cairns Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre on Saturday.

The Breakers led at every break in a physical affair, a dominant 18-10 final term capping a perfect weekend for the defending champs.

Cedric Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, with support from Will Hudson’s 14.

New Zealand coach Andrej Lemanis said he rated Jackson the best point guard in the NBL.

“His ability to influence games in different ways. On the defensive end, he can get steals and shut people down, offensively he can get in the lane and he’s shooting the ball with great confidence this year," he said.

“But what I’ve really been impressed with Cedric’s ownership of the leadership role this year… he’s really been vocal with the group."

Leading NBL All-Star vote-getter Cameron Tragardh led Cairns with 16 points, Jamar Wilson the only other Taipan in double figures (13 points).

The hosts dominated the offensive rebound count 16-8 but failed to take advantage of their second chances, shooting only 27 per cent (18-of-67) to the Breakers’ 47 per cent (27-of-58).

“To keep them to 54 points… our defence has been good for the majority of this season as it was tonight, and I thought offensively we’re starting to find our rhythm as the season goes," Lemanis said.

The Breakers made their physical presence known early, notching five fouls and sending Tragardh to the line for bonus free throws in under four minutes on court.

Scores were tied at nine-apiece when the Breakers took command, steaming to a 26-14 first-quarter lead on a 17-5 run behind Jackson’s seven points.

Taipans co-captain Wilson responded with a  quick-fire five points to start the second term, sparking a 15-4 run to pull within one (30-29) with four minutes to play in the half.

But Jackson penetrated and dished on consecutive plays to Hudson and Abercrombie, a spectacular alley-oop lay-up by the latter sending New Zealand into half-time ahead 39-31.

Jackson continued to find his way to the rim in the third term, converting consecutive lay-ups to take the New Zealand on a 10-4 run to start the second half.  

A Jackson intercept and coast-to-coast lay-up sent the visitors up 53-37 with four minutes to play, before Fearne took a timeout to calm his troops.

But the Breakers gave no space on the defensive end,  allowing the hosts only eight points in as many minutes to take a 55-44 lead into the final break.

One lucky Cairns fan converted a half-court shot to win $5000 in the iiNet half-court challenge, but that was all the home crowd had to cheer for as the Breakers limited the Taipan's offence for the 73-54 win.

Cairns coach Aaron Fearne said his team got their "butts whipped" despite not lacking for intensity.

“I thought we had the mindset of trying to get after it, I can’t fault that,” he said.

“We played hard, but did we play a little bit too hard on the offensive end? We just missed so many easy shots, shots in the paint that you’ve got to make, and we just didn’t.

“We just got taught a lesson by the back-to-back champions, and we’re obviously going to have to learn a lot from that.”  

New Zealand Breakers 73 (Jackson 20, Hudson 14, Pledger 11)
Cairns Taipans 54 (Tragardh 16, Wilson 13, Loughton 6)
 
Crowd: 4661 at Cairns Convention Centre