Basketball: Underpowered Breakers miss out on finals place

Kirk Penney was unavailable while trialing with San Antonio. Photo / Glenn Taylor

A 90-82 loss to the Wollongong Hawks in their second match of the Top End Challenge last night torpedoed the Breakers' hopes of making the final of the pre-season event for the second year running.

The Breakers went into the Darwin match knowing victory - or even a narrow loss - would probably qualify them for tonight's final.

But with Kirk Penney trialing with San Antonio and CJ Bruton out with a ankle injury, they lacked the offensive firepower to subdue the tenacious Hawks.

They did overhaul a 14-point deficit to lead by four points midway through the final quarter, but their hopes evaporated when veterans Mika Vukona and Dillon Boucher fouled out with more than five minutes remaining.

American forward Gary Wilkinson was again the major contributor for the Breakers, posting a game-high 24 points.

A substandard 13/25 effort from the free throw line contributed to the defeat. The Hawks nailed 32/40 from the charity stripe, and former Breaker Oscar Forman closed the game out from the line.

The Hawks ended a scrappy but even first quarter 26-25, but then opened the second spell with a 16-3 run to open a commanding lead.

The Breakers were horribly out of sorts at the offensive end, and the Hawks' lead stayed in double digits until the Breakers finally made some headway with back-to-back threes by Thomas Abercrombie and Leon Henry late in the third quarter.

Five straight points from Alex Pledger drew them level, and a Paul Henare lay-up then put them in front.

But after defensive linchpins Vukona and Boucher fouled out, the Hawks edged to a four-point buffer with 1.24 remaining and held their nerve to notch the victory.

The Breakers will play off for third place tonight.