Breakers take down Hawks in the 'Gong

It had all the makings of a night of the Illawarra Hawks getting their NBL title defence on track but the New Zealand Breakers blew those plans apart with the biggest win of the season, 102-60.

The Breakers recorded their first road win of the season beating the Hawks by a season-high 42 points at the WIN Entertainment Centre with Illawarra's championship defence at a loose end.

The Breakers hadn’t played since blowing a 24-point lead at home last Thursday to the Brisbane Bullets but were on a mission to silence the home crowd excited to see Championship Series hero Davo Hickey after an eye injury, and newly arrived import QJ Peterson.

New Zealand shot out of the blocks with the first eight points and then the last six of the first quarter to be leading 31-18.

The big men battle was fascinating with Sam Mennenga having 14 points and five rebounds in the opening half for the Breakers. JaVale McGee had 13 and eight for the Hawks, but the Breakers remained in control leading 52-34 by the half.

The third quarter was then the most dominant 10 minutes of basketball you'll see with the Breakers scoring 27 points themselves to end up leading by 35 while holding Illawarra to 10 points on 4/17 shooting with seven turnovers.

New Zealand cruised to the 42-point win from there to improve to 3-7 with Mennenga finishing with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Rob Baker II played his best game for 19 points on 4/8 three-point shooting.

Karim Lopez also had 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals despite a nasty cut to the face with Izaiah Brockington adding 12 points, and Parker Jackson-Cartwright 11 points and six assists.

Illawarra are now 2-5 with McGee not scoring after half-time to end up with 13 points and 10 rebounds with Tyler Harvey scoring 11 points on 2/11 shooting.

The only positive was Hickey (six points, six assists) and Peterson (four points, 1-of-10) getting through their first games of the season.

New Zealand shot out of the blocks looking for a first road win of the season with the opening eight points including three balls to Sam Mennenga and Rob Baker II, and a dunk to Next Star Karim Lopez.

Mennenga soon converted back-to-back three-point plays and despite a brief Illawarra highlight with a three ball to new import QJ Peterson, the Breakers remained in control leading 31-18 thanks to the last six points of which five came from Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Despite McGee scoring nine points in the second term for the Hawks, they only had 16 as a team and the Breakers put up another 21 to be well in control leading 53-34 at the break on shooting 48 per cent from the floor to Illawarra's 33.

New Zealand had lost from similar positions twice recently at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Brisbane Bullets, but this time the Breakers were able to build on their dominance.

The Breakers blew the game completely apart scoring 21 of the first 25 points in the third quarter to see that lead balloon to 35 points, and that's where the lead remained by three quarter-time before they completed the 42-point win.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Hawks as they head to Adelaide to face a fresh 36ers outfit on Sunday while the Breakers will host the Sixers as well next Thursday in Christchurch.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 60 (McGee 13, Harvey 11)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 102 (Mennenga 21, Baker II 19, Lopez 14)

BOX SCORE