Kings Back on Track

The Sydney Kings sent a menacing message to all of their doubters tonight as they crushed pre-season favourites the Brisbane Bullets 112-101 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

After a mid week slip up at Hunter the Kings came ready to play in front of their home fans and although they found themselves trailing at the main break the three time defending champs produced some of their best basketball in the second half to dominate the hapless Bullets and cruise home to record a comfortable 11-point win.

CJ Bruton missed the mid week game through injury, but he showed no signs of the ankle ailment that had plagued him top scoring for the match with 28 points courtesy of some accurate long range shooting that saw him hit 5/9 shots from three point range.

Ben Knight had his best game of the season so far falling just two assists shy of an elusive triple double (23 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists), while rookie Mark Worthington also had another solid game picking up 19 points.

Brisbane’s backcourt duo of Derek Rucker and Mick Hill led the way for the visitors with both players scoring 27 points, putting the rest of their teammates to shame.

Big man Mark Bradtke was the only other Bullets player to crack double digits picking up 13 points, but his main highlight of the night was an altercation with Rolan Roberts and Bruton that ensured he was booed all night long by the raucous Sydney crowd.

The Bullets had looked rusty in their opening game on Wednesday night against the Breakers, but that was not the case in the early stages of the first quarter as they nailed their first seven shots from the field only to see the Kings match them all the way to have the game tied at 16-16 after five minutes of play.

Sydney stepped up their defensive efforts over the closing stages of the first period and were able to establish a handy seven point buffer at the end of the opening quarter (30-23).

Brisbane started the second quarter much the same as the first knocking down shots from everywhere and it was Rucker who was the main instigator nailing three straight three pointers for the Bullets to cut the Kings lead to just two points and then his backcourt partner Mick Hill landed one of his own to put the Bullets back in front 36-35 midway through the period.

The game see sawed over the final minutes of the half with both sides holding the lead, but a 4-0 spurt in the final 30 seconds saw Brisbane head into the main break with a slender 59-55 lead.

The third quarter was all Sydney as the home side dominated the Bullets outscoring their opponents 38-17 to turn a four point half time deficit into a 17 point three quarter time lead.

Brisbane managed to claw back to within 10 points of the Kings early in the final term, but nine straight points from Bruton killed off their challenge ensuring the Kings would pick up their second win of the season.

Next on the agenda for Sydney is a return battle against the plucky Hunter Pirates on Wednesday night where the Kings will be out for revenge. Brisbane have a much tougher task on their hands as they must now travel straight home to meet the league leading Melbourne Tigers tomorrow afternoon.

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