Breakers fall short against table-topping Hawks

Despite a competitive start, the Breakers struggled to contain Hawks sharpshooter Tyler Harvey, who led all scorers with 29 points, including six three-pointers. 

Tacko Fall was a standout for New Zealand, delivering an efficient 16 points (6/7 FG), five rebounds and three blocks in just over 21 minutes. 

The Breakers showed fight in the paint, outscoring Illawarra 50-42, but crucial turnovers (12) and second-chance opportunities for the Hawks (12 points) proved costly. 

The bench provided a spark, outscoring Illawarra’s reserves 39-36, with Max Darling (10 points) and Sam Mennenga (eight points, six rebounds) making solid contributions.

Veteran guard Mitch McCarron orchestrated well with five assists, but the Breakers struggled to generate consistent offensive flow.

The win for the Hawks secured top spot on the ladder with one game still to play in the regular season.

Head coach Petteri Koponen said it was tough to contain Illawarra’s firepower.

“I’m definitely not happy – it wasn’t our best shooting day,” he said.

“Their press got us out of rhythm a bit and we couldn’t organise our offence quick enough. We ended up playing a lot of freelance basketball and we weren’t really good at that.

“We were able to give some other guys opportunities, we wanted to see some things from other guys who didn’t play too much during the year.

“We finished well, and had a lot of open shots but it wasn’t our day.”

The BNZ Breakers have now wrapped their NBL25 campaign, finishing the season in ninth place with 10 wins and 19 losses.