Hawks go down to Breakers in thriller

The New Zealand Breakers shook off the loss of star forward Anthony Lamb and being six points down in the fourth quarter to score a critical 88-85 home victory to open the NBL's penultimate round over the Illawarra Hawks.

The Breakers were back home to Spark Arena on Friday night on the back of a spirited win out west over the Perth Wildcats, but along the way lost former NBA forward Lamb to a ruptured Achilles in another cruel blow in a season full of hurdles for last season's grand finalists.

It was a contest featuring two teams locked in the battle of a Finals position too and it was a seesaw contest all the way with the Hawks seeming to gain a sense of control leading by six with just over seven minutes remaining.

The visitors were still leading by four with 4:30 to go after a Hyunjung Lee bucket but the Breakers were far from done with their season potentially on the line.

Dynamic guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright topped off his terrific night with 31 points with a big finish as well starting with a bucket to bring the magin back to one with just one thre minutes on the clock.

Cartwright then set up Mangok Mathiang (six points, 10 rebounds) for the go-ahead finish for teh Breakers before he grabbed the defensive rebound, and went up the other end to score to make it a three-point New Zealand lead.

He extended that lead to five shortly after but Tyler Harvey's triple with a minute to play kept the Hawks within two points.

The biggest play of the night would end up being Izayah Le'afa intercepting the inbounds pass for the Hawks aimed for Gary Clark (15 points, five boards, three assists). He got the ball to Zylan Cheatham (12 points, 15 rebounds) for the breakaway dunk.

From there the Breakers would hold on for the eventual three-point win when a buzzer-beater from Harvey just rimmed out for the Hawks on the same floor he played hero on last season.

The victory improves New Zealand to a 12-13 record to join Illawarra on the same record but the Breakers are ahead on percentage with both teams having three games to play over the next nine days to determine the top six finishes.

Jackson-Cartwright starred for the Breakers with 31 points, seven assists, four rebounds and steals despite conceding the first 13 points of the fourth quarter.

"A lot of character went into this one," Breakers coach Mody Maor said.

"Adversity can take you places you couldn't get without it - and we've faced our share."

Harvey top-scored for the Hawks with 22 points and was convinced his last second shot that would have forced overtime was good.

"I thought it was in," said Harvey, landed a miracle winning shot from halfcourt last season on the same court.

"It was unfortunate tonight that I didn't get that bounce."

New Zealand jumped ahead 8-2 but the first term was largely played on Illawarra's terms, the visitors moving ahead 21-18 at quarter-time on import Justin Robinson's late triple.

The Hawks' shooting touch deserted them in the second quarter but their strong offensive rebounding made up for it, with Sam Froling's (16 points, 10 rebounds) finger roll on the half-time buzzer giving them a 42-41 edge.

Jackson-Cartwright's dynamic attacks allowed the Breakers to take control in the third period.

New Zealand started the fourth term poorly but hit back with separate 7-0 and 8-0 runs to take the initiative.

After Harvey's third triple trimmed the Breakers' buffer to two points, Le'afa stole Robinson's errant inbound pass, a passage that finished in a thunderous Cheatham dunk.

On the next play, Hawk Davo Hickey's sideline lob was slammed by Clark with 11 seconds remaining to give Illawarra life, but the Breakers held on.

"They went on a run at the right time and got the better end of it," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.

"It was a tough loss for us."

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 88 (Jackson-Cartwright 31, McDowell-White 16, Rubstavicius 13)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 85 (Harvey 22, Froling 16, Clark 15) 

BOX SCORE