The New Zealand Breakers’ season has finished after they went down in a heart-breaking 88-85 defeat to the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong tonight.
It means the Hawks will face Melbourne United in a best-of-three semifinal series, with New Zealand running out of lives after surviving last Wednesday’s sudden death game against the defending champion Sydney Kings.
In a performance full of heart and grit, which typified their season, the Breakers again began slowly but refused to bow to the high-tempo approach from the Hawks and, after ending the first quarter 31-17 down, and trailing by 15 points in the second quarter, they took the lead for the first time with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth.
They gradually wore down their opponents, tieing it at 60-60 at halftime and took it to a new level in the final quarter. They were perhaps unlucky not to nick it at the end, with two Parker Jackson-Cartwright three-point attempts just rimming out.
The little Californian was again New Zealand’s most prolific scorer on the night with 19, with Zylan Cheatham scoring 14 and Mantas Rubstavicius chipping in with 11.
Like last week, the Breakers were again hampered by an injury to Will McDowell-White, but, rather than a shoulder problem, this time it was a rolled ankle suffered just before halftime which cut his court time to only 15 minutes.
It brings to an end a remarkable run by the Breakers who were was low as ninth on the ladder during the regular season and it means too that Tom Abercrombie’s illustrious career comes to an end.
Abercrombie looked good off the bench, with two three-pointers from two attempts and a timely block at the end. Abercrombie’s first from beyond the perimeter put the Breakers ahead for the first time in the match.
For the Hawks, Justin Robinson was their star off the bench, top scoring with 26 points and his perfect record from the line got them home down the stretch.
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