Hawks steal upset win in New Zealand

Updated November 11, 2011 21:46:26

Wollongong stunned the NBL champion Breakers 81-63 in Auckland on Friday night.

Fuelled by a pinpoint display of long-distance shooting, the Hawks reeled off a 14-3 run in the final period to thwart any hope of a Breakers comeback.

Hawks point guard Rhys Martin led all scorers with 19 points and power forward Joevan Catron scored 10.

CJ Bruton paced the Breakers with just 10 points, while Mika Vukona finished with 12 boards.

When Bruton struck from afar the home lead was 24-21 after the first quarter, the hosts' defensive effort forcing Wollongong into seven turnovers.

The Breakers were rarely in the contest after that point, however, with veteran Glen Saville hitting a three-pointer and turnaround jumper to put the Hawks in front midway through the second period.

New Zealand needed a spark in the third quarter, but instead it lost one.

After Hawks marksmen Mat Campbell and Larry Davidson put Wollongong ahead 48-40, Breakers point guard Cedric Jackson aggravated his injured ankle driving to the basket.

The Hawks immediately capitalised, extending their margin into double figures with another Campbell strike and a jumper from Tyson Demos.

Jackson returned and fed centre Alex Pledger for an alley-oop to bring New Zealand to within five, but Martin and Catron sank back-to-back threes to silence the crowd.

From there Wollongong answered every challenge, Martin the mastermind as the visitors recorded one of the biggest upsets of the season.

"The last three games we've lost, we've been in a position to actually win," Wollongong coach Gordie McLeod said.

"So the guys obviously learnt from that tonight.

"We did a good job handling the disruptive defence the Breakers threw at us, we made some shots when we needed to keep them at bay and our defence stood strong for us.

"Any team is vulnerable in this league. All it takes is a couple of guys to be slightly off their game and you're in trouble."

Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis rued his team's 36 per cent scoring conversion.

"At the start, we had some open looks that we missed and we got frustrated. We got rushed and started second-guessing ourselves a little bit," said Lemanis.

"That just seemed to snowball into a performance where we just couldn't find out rhythm at the end of the day."

AAP

Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, new-zealand, wollongong-2500, nsw, australia

First posted November 11, 2011 21:14:28

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Thunder upset Mavs to tie series

Posted May 21, 2011 16:45:00

The Oklahoma City Thunder, getting a tremendous boost from their bench, beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-100 to level the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals at 1-1.

Kevin Durant, the NBA scoring leader the last two years, scored 24 points to lead the Thunder in scoring but was supported by a mighty effort from the reserves topped by guard James Harden's 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

"We have a lot of confidence in James," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

"He made plays. He made big basketball plays. He's a spot up shooter, he's a penetrator, he's a playmaker. He's a tremendous player."

The Oklahoma back-ups, outscored by 31 points by Maverick reserves in Game One, manned the floor throughout the fourth quarter alongside Durant and combined to score 50 points in the game.

Harden gave Oklahoma City the lead going into the final period by producing a four-point play at the end of the third quarter when the guard drained a three-pointer and was fouled in the process. After sinking the free throw, the Thunder led 77-76.

A long jumper by Harden padded the lead to 102-92 with 3:15 left, and Oklahoma City withstood a furious fight-back led by Dirk Nowitzki, who had been quieted by some heavy double-team defensive pressure following his Game One eruption for 48 points.

Nowitzki, the seven-foot (2.13m) German jump shooter, scored 16 fourth-quarter points to finish with 29.

"They wanted it more and came out swinging," Nowitzki said after Dallas lost its first home playoff game of this postseason.

Said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle: "They attacked us, got us back on our heels. I don't remember a game we've won giving up 56 per cent shooting. Give them credit. They played an attacking, desperate game. Their bench was dominant."

The Mavericks led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter before Durant changed the momentum with a thunderous, rim-rattling dunk over Dallas centre Brendan Hayward.

Oklahoma City finished the first quarter trailing 31-26 and surged into a 59-57 at the intermission.

Durant praised the work of the reserves.

"We had a good chemistry going and the coach made a great decision to stick with it," he said.

"They really won the game tonight."

Brooks sat talented starting guard Russell Westbrook, who had scored 18 points, for the entire fourth quarter after he made a turnover at the end of the third quarter and a foul and then fumed on the bench.

Eric Maynor took over for Westbrook and finished with 13 points.

"I thought Eric did a good job," coach Brooks said.

"Russell is an incredible player, our starting point guard. It was his time to come out and I stuck with Eric. He did a great job handling the decisions on the court."

The series now shifts to Oklahoma City for Game Three.

- Reuters

Tags: sport, basketball, united-states

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