The Hawks looked dead and buried on more than one occasion  having trailed for almost 28 minutes of the game before a stunning 34-8 run to close the fourth term saw them snatch the win.

The victory was a metaphor for their season that’s looked over at several stages only for Rob Beveridge’s men to breathe new life into it.

Todd Blanchfield was the star with 27 points, seven rebounds and three steals including the dagger three for a seven-point lead with just under a minute remaining.

Jordair Jett was huge in turning momentum in the final stanza, finishing with 14 points, while Brian Conklin had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.

AJ Ogilvy also had a monstrous fourth quarter with seven of his 14 points while Dave Andersen closed the show to finish with 10  points, though it was his defence on Breakers star Shawn Long that was his key contribution.

“They were really good tonight but we were just hanging in there and hanging in there,” Beveridge said.

“I thought we could have been in a little bit of trouble but the grit and determination in that fourth quarter was fantastic.

“In the second half the onus was all about the defence. I really don’t really care what we run [offensively] because once we start getting stops we just play with instinct and we’ve got a lot of good players out there who can score.

“From a crowd perspective, I’ve been here four years and that was the loudest I’ve heard the Illawarra crowd. It was amazing, they were on their feet, the noise, it was rocking, it was intimidating.

“I think that helped us with confidence and getting us going defensively.” 

It left the Breakers shocked after they shot the lights out for much of the game, dropping 16 threes, with Jarrad Weeks leading the way with 18 of his 22 points in the first half.

Tom Abercrombie shot 4/5 from downtown in his 20 points, along with seven boards, while Long overcame early foul trouble to finish with 17 points.

Patrick Richard had 14 points but the final-term capitulation may well have been the final nail in the Breakers playoffs coffin. It takes the Hawks to 10-11 on the season, just win behind fourth-placed Brisbane.

They’ll face another crucial double when they play Melbourne on the road on Wednesday ahead of their Australia Day clash in Canberra against Cairns.

Cedric Jackson got things under way but it was Andersen who had the big impact early, drawing too early fouls from Long and forcing the Breakers star to sit early.

Corey Webster nailed his first shot from deep as did Abercrombie, though Blanchfield has back to back threes for the hosts to keep them in front.

The Breakers briefly took their first lead on a three from Richard and a fast-break slam from Weeks, though Ogilvy quickly leveled from the line.

Richard had a pair of threes and two steals as momentum swayed back the visitors way, with Abercrombie going four of four from the line and adding a three on a 10-5 run for a 27-22 lead at quarter-time.

Jett had four quick points to start the second, while Conklin added four after being re-injected. Abercrombie kept a decent cushion with his second triple.

Blanchfield hit back with his third from long range but when Weeks did likewise Beveridge was forced to call timeout at 41-35 to the visitors.

Weeks knocked down two more triples and Long slammed home an alley-oop dish from Wesley as the lead went out to eight, with Beveridge burning another timeout. 

It did little to slow Weeks down, nailing his third three of the term before Blanchfield had one from the line and fast-break lay-up to cut the deficit back to five at the break.

The third term quickly turned into a shootout with Wesley, Abercrombie and Webster nailing threes. Jett fired back with a triple of his own while Blanchfield chimed in with a three-point play.

Abercrombie bagged another and Long finally got going with eight points as the lead ballooned to nine, though Coenraad and White quickly pegged it back from the perimeter.

It was short-lived with Richard dropping back to back threes, the second on the buzzer, to close the term with a 12-point buffer.

Abercrombie had his fourth three to start the fourth before Naar and Coenraad also fired from the perimeter to give the Hawks a sniff with the margin at seven.

It was back to just two on a three-point play and a lay-up from Ogilvy. Long had four in response but two power buckets from Jett leveled the scores at 94 apiece with three minutes left.

It was the stamp on a 21-6 run that forced Kevin Braswell into a timeout. It did little with Conklin dropping four straight points after the resumption to take a four-point lead with 90 seconds left.

Blanchfield’s dagger effectively put the game to bed soon after, with Andersen dropping the final four points to seal the win.