Tyler Harvey would not be denied.
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With Illawarra staring down the barrel of a 12th straight loss - and a 13th single-digit defeat for the season - the Hawks skipper buried the hoodoo with a final second buzzer-beater from the car park to snatch a 78-76 lead off the Breakers in New Zealand.
After leading by eight at three-quarter-time, the Hawks led by 10 with 2.55 left on the clock and six with a 1.53 only to trail by one with less than eight seconds to play.
Enter Harvey who marched up the floor to drain his sixth treble for the game, from the Hungry Jacks logo, and get it done down the stretch after dropping their previous five outings by single-digit margins.
He finished with 25 points, including nine of his team's last 12, and three steals in a Herculean captain's knock to get the long-suffering Hawks over the winning hump.
"I'm at a loss for words," Harvey said post-game.
"It's been a battle for us and we all wanted that win so bad. We just tried to compete and give ourselves the best chance to win.
"That shot went in but it's all the work leading up to that shot that gave us that opportunity. It's who we are, it's what we're trying to build at Illawarra.
"It's a tough place to play, they're an unbelievable team, and we're just happy to get out of here with a win."
Mangok Mathiang produced his best performance as a Hawk with 15 points and five rebounds, while Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (10) and Sam Froling (11) had valuable double-digit contributions.
Derek Pardon was a monster inside with 19 points and 17 rebounds, 10 of them on the offensive glass as he tried to get his team home.
Jarell Brantley finished with 16 points, while Tom Abercrombie had 13 points and the steal and slam that gave the hosts the lead with eight seconds left.
Enter Harvey, who stole the show and the victory with 1.16 on the clock to head back to Wollongong on Saturday looking for two wins on the bounce against Brisbane.
The Hawks shot out to an 8-4 lead on back-to-back triples from Harvey and Swaka Lo Buluk, though Abercrombie fired twice from deep to lock the scores at 12 apiece.
And and-one play from Froling sparked a 15-2 run with Harvey grabbing his second three and Mathiang chiming in with a rare long bomb and four points from the line for a 13-point lead.
Mathiang banked in another from close range for a personal tally of nine for the term, with McDowell-White finally halting a 13-0 run that gave the visitors a 13-point quarter-time cushion.
Pardon had six points on an 12-2 run that quickly pegged the margin back to five as the Hawks went the best part of six minutes without a field goal.
Pardon finished with 10 points for the term, with five offensive boards at the half as the Breakers drew back within four at the main break.
It stayed thereabouts for much of the third before a threes from Dan Grida and Harvey saw the lead out to nine on a mini-break.
A three from Gliddon kept the Breakers within reach before Hickey went to the line on an unsportsmanlike foul, going 1-2 before Mathiang slammed home an eight point lead on the three-quarter-time buzzer.
Abercrombie opened third-quarter proceedings with a three, with Harvey nabbing a steal and treble of his own to hold an eight-point cushion.
His next long bomb from near half-court maintained the buffer, and the Hawks led by 10 with 2.55 left before Gliddon's second three from eight attempts punctuated a 7-0 run that drew things back to just three.
Hickey finished over two defenders at the rim before Brantley inexplicably produced a foot violation on the inbound with 1.13 left.
Hickey handed it straight back with an untimely turnover that gifted Brantley a transition bucket that cut things back to three with 37 seconds left.
Gliddon made it a one-point game from the line and then Abercrombie produced a steal on Froling to take the lead with a clear path slam before Harvey buried the game-winner.
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
