The New Zealand Breakers have suffered a crushing 109-78 loss to the Illawarra Hawks in their Australian NBL game in Wollongong.
Breakers coach Paul Henare. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Illawarra had six players in double figures as they avenged Friday night's 15-point loss to the Breakers in Auckland.
The Hawks overcame a nervous start and the loss of star import Marvelle Harris (ankle) after four minutes to be up 26-20 at quarter-time and then surged to a 56-44 halftime lead.
The Hawks showed no signs of slowing down in the second half, sharing the workload at both ends of the court and stretching the margin to 19 at three- quarter time.
Illawarra were never threatened down the stretch and boosted their win-loss record to 5-6.
The Breakers are on the road against the Cairns Taipans next Sunday, while Illawarra have a Sunday away game against injury-plagued titleholders Perth.
"The Hawks came out and played with a lot of courage and heart and unfortunately we didn't match that," Breakers coach Paul Henare said."This has been our third double header in three weeks and now we get a couple of days to regroup and prepare for next Sunday's game in Cairns.
Breakers swingman Kirk Penney conceded it was a good wake-up call for the Breakers. "That was a good kick in the butt for us," he said.
