New Zealand Breakers too strong for deflated Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong

WOLLONGONG: The New Zealand Breakers proved too strong for the Illawarra Hawks as they recorded a 9681 NBL road victory on Saturday night.

Breakers duo Shawn Long (24 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks) and Tai Wesley (23 points, seven rebounds) were dominant figures under the basket as New Zealand outscored Illawarra 4836 in the paint.

Both teams’ faint finals hopes were dashed after they tasted defeat on Thursday night, but the visitors looked more determined to finish their season on a high as they overwhelmed a lacklustre Hawks outfit on their home floor.

The seventhplaced Breakers made the better of a scrappy opening term then held the lead for the rest of the match, giving them the opportunity to move above the Hawks on the ladder in the final round.

‘‘For our group, this is probably what we expected game after game,’’ Breakers coach Kevin Braswell said, after his side controlled the contest from start to finish.

‘‘We haven’t fully come together [this season] but I thought the guys showed what we are made of.’’

Brian Conklin battled hard for the Hawks with 20 points but received little support outside of fellow import Jordair Jett (14).

Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge felt his side struggled to bounce back following Thursday’s deflating loss in Brisbane

that eliminated the Hawks from the finals race.

‘‘It really hit hard and with such a tight turnaround, I think it was really difficult, particularly mentally, to really get up for tonight,’’ Beveridge said.

Behind Wesley’s 10 points, the visitors won the first quarter 2618, as Long showed off his aerial skills with an impressive fastbreak dunk.

The home side showed some fight in the second term as Conklin closed the gap to one but fell away in the final 90 seconds and New Zealand scored the last seven points of the half to lead 4939 at the main break.

With Conklin riding the bench to open the second half, New Zealand pounced and the lead blew out to 18 points.

The Hawks’ danger man made an impact when he returned to the action towards the end of the third stanza but he could not prevent the Breakers from winning every quarter.

Illawarra will close out its NBL season with an away clash in New Zealand on Thursday night. The Breakers playing the Bullets in Brisbane on Saturday for their final game. — AAP