Kings Thrash Hunter

The Sydney Kings have humiliated the Hunter Pirates 118-85 tonight at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to gain some revenge over their instate rivals for the 12-point defeat they suffered against them just one week ago.

It was a record win for the Kings eclipsing their previous highest victory over the Pirates that was set early last year when they defeated the Novocastrians 125-94 in Sydney.

Many pundits expected this match to be a closely fought affair after Hunter’s surprise 98-86 win over the Kings in Newcastle last Wednesday, but Sydney showed their championship qualities right from the get go jumping to an early double digit lead and then extending upon that advantage in every quarter.

For the second game in a row the Kings were led by explosive point guard CJ Bruton who followed up his 28-point game against Brisbane on Saturday night with a similar effort tonight that saw him pick up another 28 points to go with his seven rebounds and six assists.

Bruton was not the only one to impress though as Sydney also got some strong efforts from their younger players with BJ Carter setting a career high with 17 points, while Luke Barlow equaled his best ever contribution in the NBL with 17 points as well.

Veteran Aaron Trahair was a lone beacon for the Pirates throughout most of the game scoring 21 points, while import Mike Helms did his best work late in the game to record 17 points for the match.

Sydney had looked out of sorts with Bruton missing in last week’s clash, but with the Australian guard back in the lineup it gave the Kings a massive lift and it showed in the early stages of the first quarter with the home side hitting eight of their first nine shots to open up a handy 23-12 lead midway through the period.

Mark Worthington was the main instigator in the early run scoring 10 points, but he gave Kings fans a scare when he hobbled off the court with a knee injury midway through the first quarter. Fortunately though it was not as serious as first thought and the early rookie of the year frontrunner was able to return to the action late in the second quarter.

Worthington’s absence did little too slow Sydney down though as they extended their lead to 16 points at quarter time and by the time he returned in the second period the Kings had pushed their advantage out to 26 points (56-30).

Hunter put together a 10 run to cut the margin to 14 points, but this was countered with an 11-0 run by Sydney that saw go into half time full of momentum with a huge 26 point lead (72-46).

Sydney showed no signs of letting up in the third term keeping all of their starters in and Bruton was the main beneficiary of these extra minutes scoring 10 of the Kings 24 points in the quarter to see the home side in front by 32 points heading into the final period.

Kings coach Brian Goorjian finally relented in the fourth quarter emptying his bench, but it mattered little for Sydney with their substitutes taking over from where the starters left off and by the time the final buzzer rang the three time defending champions had amassed their biggest score of the season and in the process handed the Pirates their fifth biggest loss in franchise history.

Sydney’s attention now turns to its upcoming game against the 36ers in Adelaide on Saturday night. The Kings have lost their last three matches in the city of churches and will be eager to put an end to that run, but after tonight’s impressive win they will head to South Australia full of confidence.

Hunter on the other hand must now wait over a week for their next game when they welcome the Perth Wildcats to Newcastle next Friday night.

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