Breakers Overpower Hawks

The New Zealand Breakers had to overcome a 16-point deficit but shrugged off a rough first half in Wollongong on Thursday night to take a step closer to securing second place with the 91-81 win over the Illawarra Hawks.

The Breakers came into the last round needing to beat the bottom two teams of NBL23 on the road to leapfrog the Cairns Taipans into second position and earn an automatic semi-final berth.

The Hawks shocked the Breakers in Auckland a couple of weeks ago with that half-court Tyler Harvey winner and the home team was out to do it again at WIN Entertainment Centre in their second last game.

The Hawks produced a tremendous first half performance including 30 points in the first quarter before opening up a game-high 16-point lead by half-time.

Illawarra was shooting 60 per cent for the half and New Zealand 35 but the Breakers were doing most things right except not nailing their shots, including eight offensive rebounds to half-time.

The Breakers shot better in the second half, the Hawks couldn’t quite maintain their pace and New Zealand pulled away with too much at stake. 

The Breakers closed the third quarter with a 23-4 run and then after the Hawks got back within one, they scored 15 of the game's last 21 points to win by 10. That improves New Zealand to 17-10 and a win in Brisbane on Saturday will lock them into second position.

Barry Brown Jr might have only played 19 minutes, but top-scored for the Breakers with 22 points on 5/8 shooting and 11/12 at the foul line.

Jarrell Brantley made 6/11 from deep for 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while Tom Abercrombie contributed 11 points and six rebounds, Will McDowell-White eight points, four boards and four assists, and Rob Loe eight points and three rebounds.

Tyler Harvey produced a 10th consecutive 20-point plus performance for the Hawks with 22 to go with two assists and two steals.

Sam Froling finished with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks, Lachie Dent 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Deng Deng eight points and five boards. 

Will McDowell-White went scoreless in Saturday's win over Melbourne, but wasted no time putting up the first five points of the game for the Breakers, but Tyler Harvey then knocked down two shots for Illawarra and the Hawks went on an 8-2 run.

Dererk Pardon converted an and-one and two threes from Jarrell Brantley kept New Zealand on top before the Hawks dominated the rest of the first quarter with 18 of the last 23 points.

That included a circus shot from Alex Mudronja on the buzzer and the Hawks were on top 30-21 at quarter-time.

The Hawks were able to build on that big finish to the first quarter as well to start the second and Sam Froling helped put the home team up by 14 before Rob Loe, Tom Vodanovich and Cam Gliddon helped New Zealand get the margin back to single-figures.

Illawarra was playing with great freedom and energy, though, and nine late points in the half from Lachie Dent including a couple of threes and one on the buzzer saw them go into half-time leading 50-34.

It was a 16-point lead with the Hawks shooting 60 per cent as a team while restricting the Breakers to just 35 per cent shooting including going 4/15 from three and 6/13 from the free-throw line.

Illawarra still led by 15 early in the third quarter after a triple from Harvey and dunk off a steal from Dan Grida, but then the Breakers turned the tide.

Brantley continued to knock them down from beyond the arc for New Zealand to spark what was an 8-0 run before another eight straight points where he hit another triple as did McDowell-White.

The Breakers closed the quarter with the last seven points as well to close the third period scoring 23 points to four from the Hawks to turn a 15-point deficit into a four-point lead.

Illawarra weren’t going to give New Zealand anything, though, and particularly Harvey was looking to drive a dagger into the Breakers for the second time late in the season. He scored nine consecutive points for the Hawks to make it a one-point ball game.

It was time for Tom Abercrombie to steady New Zealand. The 390-game captain delivered a trademark two-handed slam and finished inside over the top. Brown then stretched New Zealand's lead to seven at the charity stripe.

Brown hit a three-pointer soon after to complete the game clinching 9-0 run for the Breakers.

The Hawks finishing off against the Tasmania JackJumpers also on their home floor. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 81 (Harvey 22, Froling 17, Dent 11)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 91 (Brown Jr 22, Brantley 20, Abercrombie 11) 

BOX SCORE