NZ Breakers have slumped to their sixth consecutive Australian NBL defeat with a 89-80 loss to Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Thursday night.
Another outstanding performance from Yanni Wetzell helped the Breakers battle back into the contest late in the third quarter, until star Wildcats guard Bryce Cotton shut the gate with some late shot-clock heroics.
Wetzell finished with a game-high 22 points on 10/15 shooting with 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks.
French Next Star Hugo Besson notched 15 points, including four three-pointers, and four steals, as NBA scouts from Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks watched on from the stands.
Result aside, coach Dan Shamir was satisfied with his side's effort.
"We went to the halftime down eight and that happens and obviously to win a game we need to be just a little bit better on a few things," Shamir said.
"Maybe we need a few less turnovers, pass up a few more shots and get to the paint some more, step up on the out of bounds a little bit less and walk with the ball a little bit less. But overall we played a decent game, we executed and we were good with a lot of the details.
"The attitude was correct and I think it was a good basketball game. We gave it everything we had and that's something that I hope we'll do for the rest of the season in every game regardless of the result."
The Breakers are now anchored at the bottom of the ANBL ladder with five wins from their 23 games to date.
They move on to face South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday.
