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Wildcats suffer a real heart-Breaker!

NZ Breakers celebrate Cedric Jackson's sensational winner. Pic: Getty Images

A ridiculous long-range three from New Zealand Breakers star Cedric Jackson broke the hearts of the Perth Wildcats as they crashed to a two-point double-overtime loss at Perth Arena today.

The Wildcats looked to have sealed victory after US import Jermaine Beal put them one point ahead from the foul line with less than three seconds remaining.

But with the clock winding down Jackson, a leading contender for this season’s league MVP, threw up a prayer from beyond the half-court line which somehow found its way into the net, miraculously claiming an 89-87 win and silencing the 13,241 fans in the building.

“It was a great feeling. It was a little bit surreal, personally I’ve never been part of winning a game like that,” Breakers guard Corey Webster, who top scored with 27 points, said.

“Some might call it lucky, but we put ourselves in a position to make a shot and we made it, so it’s pretty awesome.”

Beal looked to be the hero for the Wildcats on three occasions, hitting clutch jump shots in the dying seconds of both the fourth quarter and the first over-time period to keep the game alive, then putting them in front late.

In the end it was poor offensive execution which robbed the Cats of victory as the Breakers hit enough of their over-time free-throws to keep their noses in front.

The result saw the Wildcats cough up their fourth straight game against the their fierce rivals this season.

The Breakers’ victory came despite big men Mika Vukona, Ekene Ibekwe and Tai Wesley fouling out in over-time, with their undersized defence stepping up and keeping the Cats out of the paint.

Jackson’s final three-pointer took his tally to 22 points, six assists and seven rebounds for the game.

Beal finished with 24 points for the Wildcats, his best return since December, while NBA prospect DeAndre Daniels (24 points) was also dangerous for the home side, landing a big alley-oop jam in the third quarter.

The two teams remain a chance of meeting in finals next month, having locked away their spots in the final four.

Gleeson said he was disappointed with the result, but considered it a good tune-up less than two weeks out from play-offs.

After shooting just 31 per cent for the night, he singled out the team’s offence as an area they needed to work on ahead of their final two games of the regular season, starting against the Adelaide 36ers on Friday.

“That’s the basketball gods at the end,” he said.

“It’s a great game to have ahead of the play-offs, it’s a teaching tool we can use.

“It’s a scramble, it’s tough, it’s physical, it’s defensive oriented and we’ve got to really cross the t’s and dot the i’s if we want to score better than what we have.”

The dazzling finish made up for a game which otherwise would have been remembered as much for hold-ups by the officials as it would have for any on-court action.

The physical game was held up for minutes at a time as the whistle-happy referees checked and double-checked their decisions.