Basketball: Breakers barely hang on

Cedric Jackson of the Breakers. Photo / Getty Images

Hawks 77
Breakers 79

The Breakers would have found little appealing about their afternoon's work in Wollongong - aside from a rather attractive result.

After consecutive defeats dropped the Kiwi club back to an even record, the Breakers responded today by barely closing out an unconvincing victory at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

There's still plenty of room for improvement but the 79-77 win lifted the Breakers (3-2) into third after as many rounds, while the Hawks (1-5) remain rooted to the bottom of the ladder.

Crucially, the Breakers have now won two of three games across the ditch this season, a point of pride in the championship years but a real weakness during last year's broken campaign.

"We've had a good couple of wins on the road now," said assistant coach Paul Henare. "On the road you take as many as you can get, and we're [two from three].

"So that's probably one of the most positive things out of this season so far."

There were certainly negatives to emerge from the win, though, most notably another flat performance on offence. Save the first five minutes, the Breakers hardly answered the call from coach Dean Vickerman, made after Thursday's against Cairns, to amend that particular area.

The Breakers would have been pleased, however, with the way they managed to grind out a victory. But it was far from pretty.

Wollongong threatened to complete a comeback throughout the final quarter, just about hauling in a deficit that stood at 13 heading into the fourth. The game turned into a foul-shooting contest in the waning moments and, after Corey Webster bricked two in a row with only seconds left, Tom Abercrombie came up with a key rebound to help his side see out the game.

There would have been no need for such a nervy finale had the Breakers been able to maintain even a slither of the form they showed during their fast start, making 68 per cent of their field goals and charging out to an early 10-point lead.

While that shooting mark was unsustainable and it was no surprise to see a regression as early as the second, the Breakers would have been unimpressed with the prolonged dry patch they then suffered on the offensive end. As the visitors scored only six points in the eight minutes to start the second period, Wollongong paid them pay to pull within a point

"We obviously wanted to improve [on offence] but, against a side like Wollongong, they didn't make it easy," Henare said. "There were certain patches throughout that game when we were good but, obviously, you want to be better and there are definitely areas we want to improve on."

Another area that needs improvement is discipline, with the Hawks making more than twice as many trips to the line. It almost cost the Breakers - especially when they were failing to convert their own foul shots - but, as guard Rhys Carter tweeted after the game, an ugly win is still a win.