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The Illawarra Hawks have recorded a dominant victory in their first home match of the season, never looking challenged as they took out a 21-point win over the New Zealand Breakers, whose start to the season continues on a downhill slope.
Coming into the game, the Breakers had managed to win one of their games in the first round, all be it rather unconvincingly against the Townsville Crocodiles, while the Hawks had gone down in both of their first round clashes making this an incredibly important game.
It looked like the Hawks were going to be in for another long night when the Breakers raced out of the gates early and the Hawks looked unable to get themselves into the game. However, in his first game against his old club, Kirk Penney opened the Hawks account with five straight free throws and from there they never looked back.
Once they took the lead, the Breakers were never allowed back into the game and the Hawks would be up by 13 by the end of the first quarter. Kirk Penney completely took over the match on his way to 36 points and was well backed up by AJ Ogilvy.
This theme would continue through the second quarter as the Hawks ran away with the game in what quickly turned into a blowout. For the Breakers their only sign of life came from Charles Jackson, while Tai Wesley also provided some offensive flare.
The third quarter was a much quieter quarter for both sides, the Hawks only scoring 15 points, to the Breakers 12. Penney was a fraction quieter as the bench players Tyson Demos, Larry Davidson and Jarrad Weeks really stood up to keep the Hawks in the lead.
On numerous occasions the Breakers looked like they were going to begin pulling it back, however every time they did a turnover would be made, a few empty possessions would occur or they would commit a foul.
Their general sloppiness made it easy for the Hawks, as did the quiet game from Cedric Jackson.
The game already looked over at the final break, however when they came back out and Kirk Penney got back to his first half play, along with AJ Ogilvy stepping up his game the Breakers were never going to be a chance to come back into it.
The Hawks would control the final quarter, defending incredibly well and showed they are going to be a team not to be messed with this season, particularly when Kevin Lisch and Rhys Martin come back into the side from injury.
So then, a huge win for the Hawks, their first of the season. They will now make the short trip north on Saturday to take on the Sydney Kings in what shapes as a huge game, while the Breakers travel west to take on the Perth Wildcats and continue their difficult start to the season.
Final score:
Illawarra Hawks 96
New Zealand Breakers 75
Its party time for Penney #HardBall #nbl16 @NZBreakers @illawarrahawks http://t.co/ehEAQzwWX1
— NBL (@NBL) October 14, 2015
The Illawarra Hawks will chase their first victory of the 2015-16 NBL season when they play their first home game against the New Zealand Breakers who, it would be fair to say looked shaky in Round 1 despite picking up a win. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of the match from 7:15pm (AEDT).
Both sides played two matches in round one, and even though the Breakers were the only side to register a win, it could well be argued that the Hawks looked to be the better side out of the two.
The Hawks, played what well could be the two best sides in the competition during round one. They opened their season in Cairns, taking on the Taipans. After being in what was a physical match for the most part, they didn’t execute well enough down the stretch and went down by five.
Just three days later and they travelled to Melbourne and took on United. It was another game they seemed to be in for the most part, however fatigue seemed to get to them in the back end and they fell away to lose by 12 points to a side that are certainly being considered as one of the premiership favourites.
Meanwhile, the Breakers played on opening night against the Adelaide 36ers in front of almost 5,000 people at the Adelaide Arena. It was a shocking start to the season for the new look Breakers who have lost Corey Webster to an NBL trial with the New Orleans Pelicans and they went down by 19 points.
They then had their first home game of the season taking on the Townsville Crocodiles and coming out on top by eight points in a less than dominant display.
Despite looking shaky, there were obvious signs of improvement for the Breakers and this was obviously helped along by the inclusions of Thomas Abercrombe and Alex Pledger who were out for the first match of their season.
The Hawks will look to play a brand of basketball with plenty of ball movement, with lethal options inside such as AJ Ogilvy, and from outside like Kirk Penney and Kevin Lisch.
If the Hawks can make their defence click on all cylinders, then it is hard to see where the Breakers are going to score enough points to win this one without Corey Webster for offensive production and creativity.
Prediction: This one should be a close match, but the Hawks should have the goods at home as the Breakers still try and adjust to life without Webster.
Hawks by 8.
Join The Roar for live coverage of the opening match in round two from 7:15pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment if you’re following along.