Undermanned Breakers fight hard against Hawks

Missing almost a starting five worth of key players, the Sky Sport Breakers put up a significant fight against the Illawarra Hawks in Hobart on Tuesday night before falling 102-87.

It was always going to be a challenge for the Breakers who were without Yanni Wetzell, Ousmane Dieng, Will McDowell, Rob Loe and still Tom Abercrombie, but they started well and were even leading at quarter-time and for much of the first half.

After leading 57-51 midway through the third quarter, things didn’t quite go the way of the Breakers with the Hawks outscoring them 51 points to 30 from there, but they didn’t stop fighting against the odds.

French star Hugo Besson ended up top-scoring for New Zealand with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 8/14 shooting from the floor.

Kyrin Galloway had what was likely the best game of his career in the NBL with 16 points and five rebounds on 7/10 shooting with Chasson Randle also having his best performance with 15 points, four boards and three assists.

Finn Delany put up 12 points and five rebounds, Peyton Siva 12 points and eight assists, Sam Timmins nine points and six rebounds, and Rasmus Bach three points and three rebounds.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir liked the effort of his side and the way Galloway and Timmins attacked the contest.

“We’ve had a tough stretch the last 10 days struggling with injuries. We missed five players today, one for a good cause in Rob with the Tall Blacks - it was challenging coming in without those five and you know it won’t be easy," Shamir said.

"We played with a lot of effort and those things up to 60-60 but they had a run that we didn’t recover from. You want to be critical of yourself as a player and a coach and you want to get better but we are in a tough spot. 

"I think we could have done better but at the same time, they gave it everything they have."

Justinian Jessup top-scored for Illawarra with 23 points while Tyler Harvey added 19, Sam Froling 13, Duop Reath 12, Harry Froling 12 and Antonius Cleveland 10.

Hugo Besson scored the first basket of the game and the Breakers took a 7-6 lead on the back of a three-point play from Kyrin Galloway. 

Fresh off seeing his brother Jaylin do well for the Australian Boomers in Japan, Galloway continued his good start with another basket to put New Zealand on top 9-6 before Finn Delany completed another and-one to tie scores back up.

Sam Timmins and Peyton Siva then both scored to put the Breakers back on top 19-16 heading toward quarter-time, and by the end of the first quarter they were leading the Hawks 22-20.

A couple of Harry Froling threes to open the second quarter saw Illawarra regain the lead but Delany steadied things for New Zealand with another three-point play.

Rasmus Bach then connected from downtown to level scores once more and then he finished down low to put the Breakers in front 32-30. 

Not long after and the Hawks went on an 8-2 run, but Galloway scored again to steady things and the Breakers finished the half the better to be just two points down at the major break.

Timmins and Besson then scored to start the second half to put New Zealand back in front and then Delany stretched that lead to four just a minute and-a-half into the third quarter.

Siva then put the lead back to four and Delany stretched it to six, but the Hawks fired back and went on a dominant run the rest of the third quarter scoring 28 points to 10 to be leading 79-67 at three quarter-time.

Illawarra's lead was back out to 15 to open the fourth quarter and grew to 23 soon after before Siva knocked down a three ball soon after. The Breakers did well to fight the game out but the Hawks still ended up winning by 15.

The Breakers will next take on the Tasmania JackJumpers on Saturday night at The Silverdome in Launceston.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

SKY SPORT BREAKERS 87 (Besson 20, Galloway 16, Randle 15)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 102 (Jessup 23, Harvey 19, S Froling 13) 

BOX SCORE