Basketball: Hawks swoop on Breakers

Mika Vukona of the Breakers looks to get past Oscar Forman of the Hawks. Photo / Getty Images

Wollongong Hawks 81
NZ Breakers 63

Split Enz might have thought history never repeats but the Wollongong Hawks proved it does with their upset over the Breakers tonight.

In a bizarre co-incidence, the two teams met at the same stage last season, when the Breakers held a 5-1 record and were heavily favoured to beat Wollongong, but the visitors easily won 73-57.

They did it again against a badly misfiring Breakers side who have now lost their first home game of the season.

In many ways, the Breakers beat themselves in an ugly performance. Very rarely does a side shoot the ball 20 more times than the opposition (69 times to the Hawks' 49) and lose the game but the fact the Breakers made only 30 per cent of them told the tale.

"I can't explain it," coach Andrej Lemanis said. "Hopefully it's just one of those nights.

"We were out of sync in the offensive end and when we had looks and didn't make them, we got frustrated. It snowballed from there. We just couldn't find out rhythm ... and we missed a lot of shots.

"When you shoot 30 per cent from the field, that's a hard night."

It was hard watching, and a number of Breakers fans left early as the inevitable unfolded.

It didn't help that Cedric Jackson, who provides so much energy on both attack and defence, was off his game. He was clearly still struggling with the ankle injury he sustained in practice on Tuesday because it wasn't happening for the American import.

The real Cedric Jackson was missed because he scored 28 points in the 98-82 win over Wollongong in the first game of the season and was the dominant figure in one of the Breakers' most impressive first-half performances against Adelaide last week.

He landed heavily on his ankle midway through the third quarter and, while he came back later in the game, clearly wasn't comfortable.

Gary Wilkinson, last week's ANBL player of the week on the back of his 29-point performance, was also quiet and at a time when they needed someone to step up, no one did.

The Breakers tried to play with pace but were instead laboured and became frustrated as the shots refused to drop and they started arguing with the referees instead of doing something about it.

They scored a paltry 39 points in the final three quarters of the match, including 10 down the stretch, which is an unacceptable return for a side with so much offensive talent.

The tone was set early in the match. Good starters so far this season, the Breakers landed only one of their first eight shots and, although recovered to lead 24-21 at the end of the first quarter, it was a temporary reprieve.

They were probably lucky a Breakers old boy, Oscar Forman, found himself in foul trouble because he was deadly at times from long range. But Forman was never known for his defensive qualities and the Breakers looked to expose him, sending traffic his way at every opportunity which put him under pressure and he played just over 10 minutes.

Instead it was Rhys Martin who took charge and scored a game-high 20 points. He seemed to land the big baskets just when the Breakers threatened a comeback they didn't deserve to finish off.

The Breakers are still in good shape with five wins from their first seven games but they are far from fluid and haven't played any of the top teams yet _ all of their wins have come against bottom-four sides. That changes next weekend when they head to Cairns to take on the side they beat in last season's grand final.

The defending ANBL champions will hope history repeats then and throughout the rest of the season.

Breakers 63 (CJ Bruton 10, Thomas Abercrombie 9) Hawks 81 (Rhys Martin 20, Joevan Catron 10). HT: 36-41.