The New Zealand Breakers have lost the final of the Australian Basketball League (ABL) to the Sydney Kings.
The Kings were crowned back-to-back champions after their 77-69 win over the Breakers in the deciding game of the series.
The best-of-five finals went to the final game, in front of a new record ANBL crowd of 18,124 fans in Qudos Bank Arena.
In the closest finals series since 2018, the Breakers started the stronger of the two sides getting out to a 22-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Kings reduced the deficit in the second quarter as the home side outscored the Breakers 24 to 14 in the quarter to be behind 36-35 at halftime.
In the fourth quarter neither team could shake the other until with six minutes left in the game the Kings went on run, scoring 14 unanswered points which helped to secure their fifth championship title.
The Breakers guard Barry Brown Jr lead all scorers with 22 points with Jarrell Brantley the other major contributor for the Breakers with 16 points.
Derrick Walton Jr with 21 points and six assists came up big for the Kings in the final game of the series, league MVP Xavier Cooks added 19 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
UP the BREAKERS