Basketball: Breakers on a roll at home

Breaker Brant Bailey squeezes through the Wollongong Hawks' defence. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Breakers 86 Wollongong 77

Defence has been the Breakers' biggest problem this season but yesterday they made it their trademark as they dumped Wollongong at Waitakere's Trusts Stadium, the first time they have beaten the Hawks in eight starts.

They showed both grit and composure, stepped up as the Hawks did and changed gear to reverse a first-quarter deficit then lead to the end.

It was a game they couldn't have won last season. They had talked about having the skill required to beat Wollongong before the game, said centre Ben Pepper, and asked themselves if they had the commitment on defence and in going for loose balls.

"We did that tonight."

The win is their third from four home games but, better, they are starting to show cohesion, spirit and self-belief. They knew they were capable of scoring, said coach Andrej Lemanis; last night they learnt something about closing out a game. Held scoreless for nearly half of the last quarter, they stuck to the defensive effort and the tide turned their way.

The Breakers went hoop-for-hoop with the visitors for the first minutes but then lost their accuracy and got rattled, allowing the Hawks to score from turnovers.

Wollongong went on an 11-point run that was only replied to when Rich Melzer scored off a long pass in the last second to leave a 10-point deficit, 29-19.

Aaron Olson, who started the game 17 points short of the all-up Breakers top score of 1034 held by Mike Chappell, was smothered and there were no long-range shots. Mika Vukona was injected just after the first break and brought new energy, five rebounds and five quick points.

Lindsay Tait also made impact from the bench to help the Breakers forge back to a two-point gap at 34-36, forcing the Hawks to call time out. But the home-team run continued and they took the lead mid-half.

Their defence has improved in recent games and they put real heat on the Hawks, especially with shot-blocks. Frustration always tells and Hawks import Cortez Groves picked up three fouls in quick succession. Breakers captain Paul Henare scored two-from-two off the last of those to make it 50-43 and the team then shut down the Hawks' last opportunity, forcing a shot-clock violation to end with the score unchanged.

The Hawks were feeling the defensive hassle and had shot just 16 of 46 attempts from the field; the Breakers were close to 50 per cent with 19 of 40.

The home team more than managed to avert the third-quarter lapses that have haunted them, stepping up the defence again, scrambling on the floor, with Pepper dominating the rebounds. In a low-scoring 12 minutes there was plenty of intensity, Tall Black centre Tony Rampton flooring Brant Bailey to collect his third foul, Bailey flattening Groves and Groves returning the favour.

AJ Majstrovich was the bench-man with impact in the third quarter. Olson got their first three-pointer with just four minutes left in the period and that helped them to a 72-62 lead when the game stopped at three-quarter time.

It took them five minutes and 46 seconds of the last period before they found the hoop again and the Hawks closed to three. But then the Breakers shifted up a gear again, scoring from fast breaks and their coach Andrej Lemanis encouraging more of the same. The Hawks resorted to time-outs to slow them.

But when Rampton, their top-scorer, fouled out with 2.39s left, the visitors' hopes went with him.