BOXSCORE

A scorching performance by the Wollongong Hawks delivered them a 80-64 shootout win over the New Zealand Breakers in Wollongong on Saturday.

Led by Oscar Forman's career-high 29 points and Joevan Catron’s 15 points in 16 minutes the Hawks snapped the defending champs' five-game winning run.

Forman poured in 21 points in the first half and finished with a perfect 7-of-7 clip from long-range, while Tyson Demos hit a trio of timely threes as part of his 10 points.

''I didn't feel like I was in that 'zone' until I made the first four threes, I thought after that I'm shooting pretty well tonight,'' Forman said.

''On the third one, I was on my way to ask for a sub and Rhys (Martin) drew a guy and threw it to me and I was completely off-balance and shot one in the corner.''

''I went straight to Gordie (McLeod) and asked for a sub, because I felt I was about to start giving up on the defensive end, I was blowing pretty hard.''

Both teams were in blistering form from long-distance, combining for a total of 19-of-44, but the Breakers were broken down by the Hawks’ stifling defence in a 16-8 final quarter.

''We did a good job of disrupting and we started getting our offensive flow on again,'' Hawks coach Gordie McLeod said.

''That was really pleasing, if you make shots you can really put some pressure on teams.''

Gary Wilkinson led New Zealand with 16 points, while Daryl Corletto, Cedric Jackson and Thomas Abercrombie each added 12.

''For us, the alertness and attention to detail of what we were trying to do at the start of the game wasn't there,'' Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis said.

''That might have put us on the back foot and we were never able to recover from that.

''Every time we made a bit of a run, they either hit a three or got to the foul line and were able to break our rhythm that way.''

The Hawks claimed the opening period 20-14 with Forman providing 10 points, he and Corletto duelling from long-range with four consecutive three-pointers between them.

Forman kept a hot hand in the second, knocking down a pair of vital triples, the second cutting a 6-0 Breakers run and giving the Hawks a seven-point buffer (35-28).

Moments later Forman drained his fifth three-pointer and consecutive buckets by Catron gave the Hawks a 42-32 half-time lead.

CJ Bruton snatched the last points of the half with a runner, ending a rare 20-minute phase that saw the Breakers on the wrong side of a 10-2 turnover count.

Jackson looked to reverse the turnover trend in the third, stealing the ball on the first possession for a breakaway slam as the Breakers scored the first five.

Demos entered the game after Ayinde Ubaka was called for his third foul and sank back-to-back threes to spark a 9-0 Hawks run.

The Hawks led by as many as 12 and absorbed 15 combined points from Abercrombie and Wilkinson to hold a 64-56 advantage heading into the fourth.

Wollongong rode a 5-0 start to the final period, eating almost five minutes off the clock before their backcourt combo of Ubaka and Martin steered them to victory.

Wollongong Hawks 80 (Forman 29, Catron 15, Demos 10)
New Zealand Breakers 64 (Wilkinson 16, Abercrombie 12, Jackson 12, Corletto 12)

Crowd: 3566 at WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong.