THEY were looking to go out on a high but Illawarra's final outing of the season proved an all-time low after they were hammered 130-96 by New Zealand on Thursday night.
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Both sides were out of playoffs contention but the Breakers looked very much like a team tuning up for the post-season, racking up a staggering 100 points by three-quarter-time.
It ultimately saw them tally the highest score of the 40-minute era, bringing the Hawks season to an ignominious end despite the fact they were still in the finals equation just seven days ago.
History won't show that fact and - if it is his last game at the helm - it was not a befitting end to coach Rob Beveridge's tenure at the club that's seen the Hawks reach semi-final and grand-final series' in his four seasons.
Shawn Long was just shy of a double-double by halftime, grabbing 15 points and seven rebounds and finishing with 21 points and eight boards.
Coach Kevin Braswell appeared the only many capable of stopping him, sitting the MVP contender for most of the final term.
Jarrad Weeks had 19 points at 5-7 from three-point range, while Corey Webster had 18 points at 4-7 from deep. Shea Ili had 14 points, with Finn Delany (12), Armani Moore (12), Tai Wesley (10) and Jordan Ngati (10) all in double figures.
Rookies Daniel Grida (17 points) and Emmett Naar (10) continued to be the lone bright spot for the Hawks, while AJ Ogilvy led scoring with 12 points.
Brian Conklin finished with 11, with Todd Blanchfield and Tim Coenraad contributing 10 points on a dismal night on the road.
The Hawks were red-hot early with all of their first 12 points coming from long-range, Blanchfield and Andersen grabbing threes while White had back-to-back triples for a 12-10 lead.
Long also got to work for the hosts, grabbing four quick points and re-taking the lead with his first three on a run that saw him finish with 11 points for the quarter.
It sparked a 13-2 run for the Breakers as the lead swelled to nine before Ogilvy hit a rare three to briefly stem the flow.
Weeks hit straight back from the perimeter to push the lead beyond double digits before late buckets to Ogilvy and Coenraad cut it back to 10 at quartertime.
Weeks had another two threes out of the break but five points each to Grida and Naar, including a triple each, cut the margin back to five and forced Braswell into a timeout.
It turned things for the hosts who went on a 17-5 run, seven of them to Ili, as the lead ballooned to 16 and forced Beveridge to call time.
The Hawks steadied from the line through Blanchfield and Jackson but the Breakers still took a handy 14-point buffer into halftime.
Webster caught fire in the the third, opening the term with a three and pushing the lead out to a frightening 28 on back-to-back threes midway through the quarter.
Ili also hit from downtown and had a transition lay-up, with Long's alley-oop slam the exclamation point on a 24-4 run that blew the margin out to 30.
He had a three moments later with Wesley doubling up from the perimeter. Coenraad and Grida had threes but it was all one way traffic as the hosts cruised to triple digits.
It was elementary from there, with the fourth quarter playing out like a practice scrimmage.