Hawks secure first regular season crown

A rollercoaster NBL25 for the New Zealand Breakers has ended with Matt Mooney banished to the locker room while the Illawarra Hawks won 96-82 to secure their first ever regular season championship.

Tyler Harvey had a night out with 29 points and eight assists on 6/11 three-point shooting to lead the Hawks to their 19th win of the season to be locked away in top spot for the first time.

The Breakers were playing consecutive games at Spark Arena for the first time this season in their last game of NBL25, but couldn’t move from ninth spot after avoiding the wooden spoon with Saturday's win over Cairns.

The Hawks, though, were without import pair Trey Kell III and Darius Days meaning it was going to be a tricky contest.

And the Breakers did keep things competitive through the first half with the Hawks leading 49-40 at the break, but Illawarra went 15/16 at the foul line while having 11 offensive rebounds for 10 second chance points, and 14 assists to four turnovers.

The Breakers were already without Parker Jackson-Cartwright and then from midway through the second quarter were minus fellow import guard Mooney after he had a heated exchange with coach Petteri Koponen.

When that continued in the locker room at half-time, he was asked to stay there and then the Hawks took complete control of the contest to open the second half.

"You know, nobody's bigger than the team, and it's my job to protect the team," Koponen said.

"You can yell at me, but you have to respect your teammates.

"It's kind of the heat of the moment and we're going to have a conversation with Matt about this.

"We are human. Sometimes we make mistakes. We just have to learn from this."

The Hawks got out to a lead as big as 26 points before winning by 14. Along with what Harvey produced, Todd Blanchfield continued to thrive in the absence of Days with 17 points and four rebounds.

Sam Froling delivered 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Davo Hickey 10 points, nine assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Hawks coach Justin Tatum had a strong message for his players - enjoy the momentous occasion of finishing top, but keep your eye on the grand prize.

"I don't want to just blow past it. Let's sit back and think about it. We were part of history today," Tatum said.

"That's something I told the guys I'll never forget. I want to make sure our team and city enjoys the moment. But we've still got a job to do on Friday."

The Breakers finish a season that started so promisingly at 7-3 at 10-19.

Tacko Fall produced 16 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals with Next Star Karim Lopez adding 12 points and five boards, and Max Darling 10 points on 2/2 from downtown.

Sam Froling scored first up one end for Illawarra completing an and-one before it was Tacko Fall up the other who scored New Zealand's opening three baskets of the contest.

The Hawks were able to build on that advantage through the first quarter, though, and with Tyler Harvey and Todd Blanchfield combining for 15 points, and with them pulling down 15 rebounds to seven, the league-leaders were up 27-17 by quarter-time.

Harvey and Blanchfield combined for their first nine points of the second term with the lead growing out to 14 points, but the Breakers did well to stay in touch especially after Matt Mooney sat down after a blow up with coach Petteri Koponen.

Kaia Isaac knocked down New Zealand's lone three-pointer of the first half and then Karim Lopez scored the last four points and they had cut the Illawarra lead to 49-40 at the break.

Harvey had 17 points and Blanchfield 11 to the half for the Hawks while they were on top thanks to 16 free-throw attempts and 11 offensive rebounds, but the Breakers had done well to be only down nine.

Illawarra opened the second half with three balls to Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and Harvey before Harvey hit two more on back-to-back possessions, and suddenly the Hawks were out to a 16-point lead.

That soon got out to 23 by three quarter-time and the Hawks iced the eventual 14-point win with a breakaway dunk from Daniel Grida before Max Darling did finish his breakout season for the Breakers with a three ball.

It's a rollercoaster ride of a season over now for the Breakers while the Hawks still have one game to go in the regular season when hosting the Sydney Kings on Friday night looking for a sweep over their NSW rivals.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 82 (Fall 16, Lopez 12, Darling 10)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 96 (Harvey 29, Blanchfield 17, Froling 14)

BOX SCORE