Star guard Kirk Penney turned back the clock in an imperious display, with a game high 25 points featuring six beautifully hit three pointers.

It was largely down to Penney’s first half 19 points that the home side had a comfortable 54-41 lead at the half, a lead that Sydney closed though and took the game to the final play on the buzzer.

DJ Newbill was another of many heroes on the night, his 22 points including a clutch drive to the basket and lay up with time almost up to give the Breakers their final and most important lead.

Shea Ili showed his immense promise at this level with a career performance of 15 points, four assists, one steal and defensive hustle in 28 explosive minutes.

Head Coach Paul Henare was pleased with the improvements in his side from last week and spoke of an emotional roller coaster of a final quarter.

“I am quite an emotional guy and get involved in this sport, but in terms of trying to get the guys on the same page at both ends, covering our assignments – Sydney are a good team, they can score and put pressure on us at the end,” Henare said.

“But I am proud of my guys, we needed a play at the end to get the win but to have the composure, I am really proud of them to come away with that one.

“We took care of the ball, to have nine turnovers is a massive work on for us, getting the production from our bench – I didn’t lay a challenge down but I spoke to them about how important they are to our group, to see that positive play from them was good to see.

“If we can be multi-dimensional we are a tough team to scout, I think we can have guys on any given night that can score, like Kirk and DJ put points on the board, Tommy and Sosa have shown what they can do and across the board we had different guys step up at different times.

“That gives confidence to anyone that steps on the floor that they have the right when they are feeling it, and obviously Kirk was feeling it tonight.”

The Breakers won the boards 37-31 and kept turnovers to a highly respectable nine on a night when both teams were applying pressure up the floor.

On a quiet scoring night, Tom Abercrombie picked up seven boards and was a colossus on defence.

The two teams will go at it again on Thursday night, with a return of the Kings to Spark Arena, knowing that their record in New Zealand is now two wins in their last 15 visits.