After consecutive defeats dropped the fast-starting Kiwi club back to an even record, the Breakers responded by coming out fast and somehow closing out the victory at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
There's still plenty of room for improvement but the 79-77 win lifted the Breakers (3-2) into third after as many rounds, while the Hawks (1-5) remain rooted to the bottom of the ladder.
Crucially, the Breakers have now won two of three games in Australia, a point of pride in the championship seasons but a real weakness during last year's broken campaign.
And if they can find a way to bottle the first five minutes of today's game, there will be plenty more road wins to come. The offensive outburst was the perfect response after Dean Vickerman took aim on his team following Thursday's loss to table-topping Cairns, when the coach criticised that facet of his side's performance.
And while the Breakers were unable to maintain their frantic pace in the first quarter, there was another positive sign present in the way they managed to grind out a victory. But it was far from pretty.
Wollongong threatened throughout the final quarter to recover from their own offensive woes and complete a comeback, but the Breakers barely hung on. The game turned into a foul-shooting contest in the final moments and, after Corey Webster bricked two in a row with seven seconds left, Tom Abercrombie came up with a key rebound to help his side see out the game.
There would have been no need for such a nervy finale had the game followed its early pattern, with the Breakers shooting at an incredible clip while their hosts started in a sluggish manner reflective of their poor record.
For the first time since opening night, the Breakers were the stronger side in the opening stages, making 68 per cent of their shots from the floor in the first. And when the ball was at the other end, the Hawks were struggling to convert even the most simple of lay-ups.
Rhys Carter again made a rapid impact after stepping off the bench, draining a couple of three-pointers to push his side in front by as many as 10, but the Breakers struggled to kill off the opposition.
With their shooting percentage unsustainable, it was no surprise to see a regression in the second quarter. The Breakers scored only six points in eight minutes to start the second, with Wollongong making the visitors pay to pull within a point.
The lead was five at the major break and, having wilted in the third quarter against Cairns, the Breakers managed to boost their advantage out to 13 today, helped when the Hawks lost influential guard Gary Ervin.
But not even that lead was enough as the Breakers' ill-discipline gave the Hawks more than twice as many trips to the line, setting up the grand stand finish.
- By Kris Shannon
