Basketball On The Internet.

NEW Zealand's Carlin Davison has always been a super athlete. Last night in Canberra, he went further and became Superman for the Breakers, in the injury-forced absence of Parker Jackson-Cartwright, taking on the role of point guard and driving the Ignite Cup experts to a sizzling NBL road win over Sydney.

Already collecting the maximum 7 Cup points after routing Cairns, this time the depleted Breakers still snatched 5 points from their highly-fancied and probably over-confident opponents but Davison absolutely was the X-factor.

Promoted to start at point guard after the experiment with Izayah Le'Afa against Perth was put on a back-burner, Davison simply manhandled the Kings' backcourt to produce career-best numbers virtually across the board.

His 20 points at 67 per cent, including 3-of-5 threes, are now his career highs. His 14 assists - equalling the most by any player this season - is, of course, a career high. 

So too his game-high four steals, and his 5-of-5 from the free throw line was icing on the cake.

It's not as if it was just Superman for New Zealand. It was the entire Justice League! Sam Mennenga was Batman as usual, compiling 27 points at 75 per cent, with 13 rebounds. Mojave King flashed in as the Flash with 17 points, 4 assists and 4 boards, Dejan Vasiljevic had the green light as Green Lantern for 13 points and Kouat Noi was Elongated Man who, at a stretch, knocked down 10 points.

(Unfortunately, Charles Bediako was Aquaman and Canberra being landlocked rendered him almost totally ineffective.)

The Kings had Xavier Cooks off to a flyer, their 32-20 second period setting up a 61-51 halftime lead, Makuach Maluach also a huge contributor.

Following a similar successful defensive strategy to that employed on Sunday by Adelaide's Trevor Gleeson, Gordon Herbert had a defender harassing Kendric Davis upcourt, then meeting him with double and triple-teams in the frontcourt.

When he passed it out quickly, Sydney swung the ball effectively, finding the open man for an easy basket. But Davis likes to handle the ball so the tactic again mostly proved successful.

Working hard defensively, New Zealand contained Sydney to 12 points in the third quarter, Torrey Craig's shooting particularly wayward and Matthew Dellavedova's absence with a calf injury adding to its offensive breakdowns.

With Mennenga a force, King and Reuben Te Rangi striking big buckets, the Breakers broke away and with 2:24 had pushed 98-85 clear on a Te Rangi triple.

Suddenly, it was Torrid Craig Time. After shooting like the Joker for much of this, he swished a 3-pointer. An absurd and patently incorrect travel call against Mojave King opened the door and Craig iced a second triple.

Another turnover and Craig pulled up for his third 3-pointer in a row, the deficit sliced back to 94-98!

Craig's fourth three in this amazing run had it back to 99-101 with 13 seconds remaining, Mennenga fouled and only converting one freebie.

Tyler Robertson's tap-in cut it to 101-102 when Mennenga was fouled again. This time he missed both, only enough left for a Kings prayer and heave from Davis that was never likely.

The defending champs lost to the defending Ignite Cup champs who again showed they have these games down to a tee.  

Round 5 Results, Ignite Cup

New Zealand Breakers 102 (Mennenga 27, Davison 20, King 17, Vasiljevic 13, Noi 10; Mennenga 13 rebs; Davison 14 assts) d Sydney Kings 101 (Craig 28, Maluach 19, Cooks 18, Davis 17, Carr 15; Carr 10 rebs; Davis 11 assts) at AIS Arena, Canberra. Qtr-By-Qtr: 31-29, 20-32, 24-12, 27-28. Pts: New Zealand 5, Sydney 2.