The Wollongong Hawks gave their win-starved fans something to savour, beating the finals-bound New Zealand Breakers 103-98 last night at WIN Entertainment Centre.
After trailing by a point at the end of the first quarter, a fiercely determined Hawks took control with a strong second period to take a well-deserved 53-45 lead into the locker room.
The Hawks drained an impressive 17/27 (63 per cent) of their shots in the first half while holding the visitors to 34 per cent shooting. Wollongong ended up making 54 per cent of their shots for the game.
The morale-boosting victory was Wollongong's 10th of the season and snapped a five-game losing streak in front of one of their biggest (2740) and most vocal crowds of the season.
Despite being out of play-off contention, Wollongong management is hopeful of drawing an even greater turnout when the Hawks play their final home game in the club's 30-year history next Friday against Adelaide.
Once again the WEC proved to be a graveyard for the Breakers, who were minus leading scorer Kirk Penney.
In nine trips to Wollongong, New Zealand are 1-8 over a six-season period.
Addressing the fans after the nail-biting clash, Hawks captain Mat Campbell said: ''The game got close and if wasn't for you guys, I don't know if we would've got home tonight.''
Campbell finished with 16 points and hit a key three-pointer in crunch time when his side was struggling for baskets.
Dusty Rychart tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds, Glen Saville had 16, while Kavossy Franklin and Anthony Petrie combined for 23.
''To beat a top-three team, even though they were without a good player like Kirk Penney, is a great effort by the guys,'' Hawks coach Eric Cooks said.
The Hawks drew first blood through Kavossy Franklin's free throw, but the Breakers held sway for the majority of a foul-marred opening quarter.
New Zealand were whistled for eight fouls, with forward Oscar Forman being called for three in the first five minutes.
Wollongong also picked up eight fouls and both teams spent a lot of time at the free throw line.
Saville spearheaded his side's attack with nine points, as the Hawks hit 54 per cent of their shots in the period.
But New Zealand were up 27-26 after one quarter, due largely to the fact that eight of their 14 rebounds were at the offensive end.
Campbell's three-pointer gave the home team the perfect start to the second period, sparking a crowd-pleasing 14-4 run.
Little-used back-up forward Dan Jackson made the most of his cameo, popping in a lay-up and timely three from the left corner.
But the visitors regrouped, scoring the next seven points to be down 40-37 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.
The Breakers got help from an unlikely source, as rookie forward Tommy Abercrombie crashed the boards and scored a couple of key baskets.
Wollongong's defence was the story in the second quarter, as New Zealand managed just 18 points while missing 15 of their 21 shot attempts.
At the other end of the court, a red-hot Hawks connected on 10/14 shots, boosting their accuracy to a sizzling 63 per cent overall to build a 53-45 half-time lead.
Saville had 12 points, while Rychart was up to nine.
Abercrombie led the Breakers with 11 and Forman and Tim Behrendorff had seven apiece.
The only real concern for Wollongong was New Zealand's dominance of the boards.
The Breakers hauled in a whopping 17 offensive rebounds compared to zero for their opponents and out-rebounded them 30-16 overall.
The Hawks pushed the lead out to double-digits and had appeared to exorcise their usual third quarter horrors.
But New Zealand guard Phill Jones single-handedly turned the game around with a flurry of points to leave his side down 73-72 after three periods.
Jones broke out of a career-long slump in Wollongong with 15 points in the quarter on the way to a game-high 25.
The Hawks steadied themselves to go up by eight early in the fourth period and withstood the Breakers' last-ditch fightback down the stretch.
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