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The New Zealand Breakers survived a fourth-quarter collapse to scrape out a 105-103 Australian National Basketball League win over the Wollongong Hawks in Auckland last night.
The Breakers led by 20 points early in the last quarter but a 19-3 run put Wollongong back in the contest with less than two minutes remaining.
Some late free throws to Phill Jones and a clutch move from American import Orien Greene kept the Breakers ahead, and they escaped with a victory, temporarily putting themselves in sixth place in the standings.
It was a solid team performance for most of the match from the Breakers, who dominating the visitors with their three-point shooting while also proving a handful under the basket and in defence.
Skipper Tony Ronaldson had one of his best games for the Breakers while Kirk Penney was his usual high-scoring self and Phill Jones came to the party with some good three-point shooting in the second half.
The Breakers also got good value from new import Derrick Alston, although Greene didn't play a strong part for most of his third game for the club after again finding himself in early foul trouble.
The Breakers were off to a fast start, leading 10-2 with barely 3min played.
Outstanding three-point shooting, with Penney scoring 16 of the first 28 points, and some strong defence saw the Breakers lead 35-24 at quarter time.
The only problem came with Greene clocking up three fouls in the first 6min.
Ronaldson had a strong second quarter close to the basket, with good support from Alston, as the Breakers consolidated their lead in the second quarter.
The Hawks, minus Puerto Rican import Angelo Reyes, who was sent home for disciplinary reasons, were below their best and looked one dimensional in attack, having little support for guard Kavossy Franklin and Ben Castle.
But they were a different side at the start of the second half.
Franklin and Larry Davidson scored freely, and with Greene and Oscar Forman in foul trouble Wollongong pulled the margin back to one point.
Sharpshooting from the three-point line, from Jones in particular, restored the Breakers' lead, and by three-quarter time they were 86-69 ahead.
Castle was in foul trouble by the fourth quarter but at the end of the game it was the home team's generosity which nearly turned what should have been an easy ride home into a nervous finish.
Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said the game was closer than it needed to be but he was happy with the way his team responded.
"It's one of those games where everybody's going to say it was harder than it needed to be, but the bottom line is that we won," he said.
"I think from a confidence point of view it was important to get the win because otherwise you start feeling like the world's pushing down on you.
"But we've been good in close games this season and it was pleasing that we were able to keep doing that tonight."
Lemanis said he was pleased the team had done well near the basket in the first half, and that the outside shooters responded well once Wollongong started double-teaming their forwards in the second half.
He was also pleased with the defensive effort in the first half, saying it was a vast improvement from their heavy defeat to Brisbane last weekend.
"We showed in patches in that game where we can get to, and that's the positives we need to keep building on.
"We were pretty good for periods, it's just maintaining that for 48 minutes which is now the next challenge."
Lemanis put the fourth-quarter meltdown down to improved Wollongong defensive intensity, allowing themselves to get away from their normal offensive game pattern "and I also thought we just missed some shots".
Wollongong coach Eric Cooks said the Breakers were a good team and he was pleased how well his players came back in the second half.
"I was really proud. We were down close to 20 in that final quarter and never gave up," he said.
"We're playing like a team and we keep getting better. We did a lot of things well tonight but we had some quiet periods."
Cooks paid tribute to Franklin's performance, saying he "carried us on his back out there for a while".
- NZPA
