The Santa Barbara Breakers defeated the West L.A. Advantage in overtime, 97-92, in Saturday’s West Coast Basketball League exhibition game at Murchison Gym.
The Breakers jumped out to a early 13-6 lead and piled up 38 points in the first quarter, taking a 38-30 lead at the heading into the second. The period was highlighted by numerous fast-break points and 3-pointers by Tim Taylor and point guard M’Jumbe Williams.
Unfortunately for the Breakers, the offense relaxed and went to the proverbial one-pass, then-shoot style, leading to just eight points in the second quarter. The bi-polar first half found the Breakers holding on to a tight 46-44 lead after 24 minutes of play.
The Advantage began finding holes in the Breakers defense during the third quarter, and outscored the home team 19-16 behind numerous treys and offensive putbacks, for a 63-62 edge going into the final frame.
The Breakers were looking doomed late in the fourth, trailing 73-68 with 3:23 remaining, but three consecutive steals by M’Jumbe Williams for two lay-ins as well as two free throws brought the men in red, white, blue and gold back into contention. Allan Purnell’s driving lay-in from the baseline put the Breakers up 77-74 with 5.2 seconds remaining.
The Advantage took the ball out of bounds near the bench. Jamar Cramer, who led all scorers with 25 points, inbounded the ball, received it back and calmly sank a triple to send the game into overtime.
The Breakers outscored the Advantage 10-5 in OT. After Taylor hit a crucial trey from the right wing, forward Donald Lee scored on two put-backs and, once again, M’Jumbe Williams stifled the opponents with great defense on the perimeter.
Leading in scoring was Williams with 23, Allan Purnell with 18, Taylor with 17, DJ Turner and Donald Lee with 12 and Vince Camper with 10. Mike Boone and Donald Lee each grabbed eight rebounds apiece while Williams had a game-high six steals.
The Breakers are 6-1 during their Winter preseason games. The regular WCBL season will begin in mid-April.
