Harvey Shoots Hawks to Stunning Win in NZ

The Illawarra Hawks had been so close so many times to their third win of NBL23 and it came on Thursday night at Spark Arena in the most remarkable of circumstances with a near half-court shot from Tyler Harvey sinking the New Zealand Breakers.

The Hawks put together a tremendous performance on the road against a desperate opponent, but they saw a double figure lead disappear in the final minutes once again when Tom Abercrombie pulled off a steal and dunk for the Breakers.

It appeared only fitting that Abercrombie played the hero in the heritage uniforms he wore early in his now 386-game NBL career, but Harvey had other ideas.

Harvey knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the game, just inside halfway to ensure he could get the shot off over the longer Abercrombie who had been hounding him all night.

It fell and the Hawks won 78-76, Harvey ended up with 25 points for the game with 6/12 three-point shooting and the Hawks broke through for that third win and sent the Breakers to a fourth successive defeat.

Eventually Illawarra was going to break through having lost 13 games by 10 points or fewer and they got their first win since December 5. The fourth loss for New Zealand leaves them 13-10 with a top four finish slipping.

While Rayan Rupert scored first to open the game and New Zealand did lead 9-8 on the back of a Tom Abercrombie triple and Will McDowell-White bucket, the Hawks soon took over for the rest of the opening period.

With the Breakers going ice cold shooting just 6/18 from the field and not getting to the foul line once, the Hawks got rolling and it was Sam Froling who converted an and-one to spark a 15-0 run.

From the scores being tied at 12-12, Illawarra hit the next 15 points and it was Mangok Mathiang on fire scoring the last nine of those including his first three-pointer of his NBL career.

That meant the Hawks went into quarter-time leading 27-14 while going 50 per cent from the field and making 4/9 from three-point territory.

New Zealand needed to respond and it was Dererk Pardon that led them back into the contest and it was all on the back of his work under the rim.

He scored the Breakers' first six points of the quarter including a couple of offensive rebounds. Eventually New Zealand went on a 10-0 run as it was the Hawks' turn to go stone cold before a pull up jumper from Lachie Dent.

It was then Daniel Fotu who provided the Breakers a quick spart with five quick points matching what he's put up all of the season.

Another Pardon bucket on an o-board took Pardon to 12 points and eight rebounds at the half, but Illawarra did enough to still go into the break leading 39-35 with co-captains Froling and Tyler Harvey combining for 17 points.

Just as the Breakers appeared to be working on top in the third quarter, the Hawks continued to have the answers including three balls to Dan Grida and Harvey to extend the advantage back out to nine.

Cam Gliddon dropped a three for New Zealand before Tom Vodanovich scored down low and it was a four-point ball game, and by three quarter-time the Hawks were still on top 56-50.

The Breakers were hanging around for the first half of the fourth, but they could never get over the hump and then Harvey put the game to bed. He hit a couple of massive three-pointers, then found Mathiang for a finish after forcing a turnover.

That had Illawarra up 10 with three minutes to play but the Breakers weren’t done yet. When Gliddon knocked down a three ball, suddenly it was a three-point game with 1:30 to play.

Davo Hickey made a huge play driving to the rim to finish to put the Hawks back up five, but a breakaway finish for Brantley had New Zealand with three.

They then got a stop up the other end and had the chance to close the gap further, which Gliddon did by making two free-throws. The drama was only just beginning.

Abercrombie forced a steal on Froling in the backcourt and took it down for a dunk to put New Zealand in front for the first time since the opening quarter with 10 seconds to go.

Abercrombie then had the defensive job on Harvey, who pulled up for three just inside half-court and it was nothing but net, and the Hawks took the two-point win to stun the Auckland crowd.

Both teams play again in Round 16 with the Hawks at home to the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday before the Breakers are on the road to the league-leading Sydney Kings on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 76 (Pardon 19, Brantley 16, Abercrombie 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 78 (Harvey 25, Mathiang 15, Froling 11) 

BOX SCORE