The Wollongong Hawks' push for an NBL semi-finals berth will go right down to the wire after last night's spectacular failure against the New Zealand Breakers.
After throwing down the challenge to their opponents in the first half, the Hawks capitulated over the final two quarters and slumped to an embarrassing 28-point loss.
Wollongong hadn't played for a fortnight and it showed against a team which had won its past three games.
Full coverage of the Wollongong Hawks That the Breakers were without American centre Rick Rickert highlighted how poorly the visitors functioned at both ends of the floor.
Victory last night would have left the Hawks needing one more win to secure the club's first post-season appearance in four years.
But now their season is hanging by a thread.
With three games to play, Wollongong (13-12) are clinging to fourth spot, just ahead of the surging Breakers (13-13).
Even if the Hawks overcome second-placed Gold Coast Blaze (14-10) tomorrow night at WIN Entertainment Centre, they will still need to win at least one of next weekend's final-round games against Melbourne (home) and Adelaide (away) to be assured of a finals invitation.
Guards Kirk Penney (23 points, two steals) and C J Bruton (19 points, five steals) led the charge for the Breakers, while Cam Tragardh and Tim Coenraad each finished with 12 points for Wollongong.
The Hawks turned over possession 19 times and made just 35 per cent of their shot attempts.
They were down 42-34 at half-time before being outscored 46-26 in the second half.
"We have to be better with the basketball. We were very, very sloppy tonight," Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.
"The amount of times Breakers guys came from behind the ball and got a piece of it - that's just sloppiness. We weren't strong, and we spoke about coming out and being strong and physical and meeting them. They beat us in all those areas."
The Hawks were fighting an uphill battle almost from the get-go after Bruton hit a trio of three-pointers in the opening four minutes.
Wollongong had only scraped together five points with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter, while the Breakers were up to 17, leaving McLeod no choice but to use his first time out in a bid to stop the rot.
Backup centre Tim Behrendorff broke the drought with a basket against his former team, sparking the visitors' encouraging 8-2 run to finish the period.
The home side responded with a 6-2 spurt to start the second quarter, building a 25-15 lead which soon became 34-24 when Penney knocked down a pair of free throws with just over four minutes left in the half.
But after a poor shooting display in the first period, the Hawks found their rhythm, with Behrendorff and Coenraad draining back-to-back threes and Luke Martin's making a lay-up cut the deficit to two.
Hard-nosed guard Paul Henare took it upon himself to reignite the Breakers with two baskets and two steals. Penney hit another jump-shot and American guard Kevin Braswell drove inside for a lay-up, ensuring New Zealand had the momentum going into the main break.
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